Monsters of Television

“Stop those delinquents.“

Still with the kind of boringly generic stuff, but this time coupled with head-scratching plotting. Young Justice continues to be an adventure show that does not terribly interested in being much more than that, and I suppose it’s just time I accepted that.

But it’s hard to move out of that mindset. I think my problem with Young Justice boils down to a lack of personality. Say what you will about Teen Titans or Batman: The Brave and the Bold (and you should say good things about both, by the way), but at least they had (using past tense since Brave and the Bold is on its way out to make room for the CGI-styled Beware the Batman) style, verve, and made an attempt to do more than just standard heroes versus villains (with occasional dashes of romance mixed into Teen Titans).

So, if I judge from just that perspective, then I suppose “Revelation” is a fun episode with lots of fighting. But, really, I was just bored and kind of cringed at the less-than-inspired writing for the Joker (and Brent Spiner’s painfully pitchy performance).

I suppose my biggest quibble was with sending the team off to do battle with a bunch of really dangerous super villains and psychotics. I mean, Black Adam alone skews the power scale in a very real way. He can take on Captain Marvel and Superman at the same time, and yet he’s not going to completely wipe out this team? Eh. Okay. That’s being fanboy nitpicky, I know, but it does kind of bog me down. Most of the kids watching this probably don’t know that, and that’s what the show is counting on.

So it becomes all the more head-scratching to me because, really, the League could’ve dealt with the Injustice League way easier, especially if they all showed up, as they do at the end, outnumbering and out-gunning everyone else in the bayou. I understand, of course, that if they did that there’s not much of an episode. Do want to see the team fighting a bunch of plants? No, but perhaps if they had split up and been a bit more covert in taking down the Injustice League?

The fight sequence is fine enough (and that’s really all the episode), though the episode avoid having a big group fight, instead putting the heroes and villains in a bit of rotation (Superboy wisely sticks with Black Adam). It gives a disjointed vibe to the fight, but group battles are really hard to storyboard and animate (just go back and watch the first seasons of Justice League; they’re rough! (with the exception of “Injustice for All”)), so I’m willing to just go with it.

Hauling out the Helmet of Fate was pretty cheap, however. There wasn’t much worry there that Aqualad would be able to remove the helmet without any problem, leaving me to wonder how often they’ll (ab)use this little power-up as it were when the going gets tough.

In any case, the show is still on the blah side of fine for me. There’s still a solid chunk of season left, and now with the Light revealed, perhaps the narrative will pick up a bit more and start taking some risks.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• Do I love that Captain Marvel was just hanging out and eating snacks? Yes.
• Wolf was remarkably calm about swimming underwater.
• “I feel naked. But not in a fun way.” That was skeevy, writers. Skeevy.
• “Timber.” Perhaps Robin’s most badass moment. (I also liked his his explosives looked like smiley faces before they exploded.)
• Lots and lots of characters this week. The Justice League was particularly busy, with Zatara, Flash, Captain Atom, Blue Devil, Plastic Man, Icon & Rocket, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Guy Gardner (without his trademark bowl cut), Hawkwoman/girl, Hawkman, and, um, Red Arrow. Because he’s a Leaguer now?
• Since the show identified everyone in the Injustice League, here’s a quick rundown on The Light: Brain, Klarion the Witch Boy, Ocean Master, Queen Bee, Ra’s Al Ghul, Lex Luthor, and their leader Vandal Savage (whose design I wasn’t crazy about; he seemed very Wolverine-y)