Monsters of Television

“It just means I have more people to hate.”

“Razer’s Edge” isn’t so much a fresh new episode as it the epilogue to the 2-parter that the show premiered with. We get Razer’s backstory, and Aya is given something to do besides steer the ship. It’s actually not a bad epilogue, but I’m eager to see where the show intends to go from here, now that we’ve established the team (a team without, thankfully, Goggin, or whatever that one-eyed mynock was named).

It’s another episode, like part 2 of “Beware My Power” that says more the show’s potential than it does about the show itself. But like that episode, there are promising signs of a good show here.

Hal and Kilowog’s decision to drop Razer off at the nearest prison colony/planet/asteroid helps us move quickly past the required prison break story (break out, or in this case, break in) and move onto, hopefully, more original stories. There’s nothing surprising here: Of course the creepy spiders who run the prison are torturing criminals; of course the creepy spiders who run the place are also eating the criminals after the torturing is done; of course there’s a crazy old prisoner who alerts the heroes to the problems.

But what I did like is the rather nice, albeit too brief, discussion about the merits of torture and punishment for prisoners between Aya, Kilowog, and Hal. It’s a moment that’s not as fleshed out as I would’ve liked, but this is also a Saturday morning show aimed at kids and to sell toys. But that such a show took a moment to have a small-ish debate about whether it was right to torture people, world-destroying criminals or otherwise, is a good sign about the show’s goals.

Razer’s backstory is appropriately sad and gut-wrenching, and it shows why he’s so filled with rage. But it has the added benefit of being sympathetic and sad, which means there’s a clear path to redeeming him. And I like that Aya learns this and is set up as a confidant for Razer. It makes them both more interesting they were on their own. That Razer willing removes the Red power ring shows that even he is aware of what poison and baggage he needs to release.

So with it all out of the way, I’m curious what the show will look like now, and how Razer will come to grips with his past and his guilt.

Nick will (likely) be covering for me next week since I’ll be out of town, but I’ll be back in two weeks.

DC Nation Short: FINALLY. Super Best Friends Forever makes its appearance, and it was worth the wait. Here are Wonder Girl (Donna Troy lives!), Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), and Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), and they’re awesome.  Personalities are clearly and quickly defined, I love that Kara has a nice hour-glass shape, and that it’s actually funny. From the guitar riff when Kara says “50 ROLLS OF TP!” to Donna’s impassioned Amazonian speech followed up by “AND MY SISTER WOULD KILL ME!” to Babara and Kara convincing Donna to steal the invisible  jet anyway by volunteering to head to a  war torn nation AND to get burritos in Mexico: I. Loved. It.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• For the random DC thing that always airs during this block, a quick visit to see all the film versions of the Batmobile at WB Studios. Can’t help but notice that we really don’t get a good look at either of the Batmobiles from the Schumacher films even though they’re in the clip. It’s almost as if we’re pretending they don’t exist…
• “We may be of one mind, but under protest.”
• “Out the window? In space?”
• YELLOW ROCKS.
• “Green Lantern is best eaten…fresh.”
• “I’m almost 90 percent sure I remembered to charge it this time.”