Monsters of Television

“This is myself! This is who I am!“

So when I wrote last week that I was hoping “Image” would “…push [M’gann] in a good direction” I wasn’t expecting, well, this. The episode, as a whole, is a little uneven, but there’s just so much good in it that I don’t care, and I feel like, for once, the show has had a legitimate breakthrough in terms of character and plotting. It just took 21 episodes.

Of course, now, comes the follow through, and whether the show can properly pay off what it has done in this episode (including set up a potential new team member, however covertly and cleverly). While I’m not sure the show has demonstrated that skill (remember that mole hunt?), the last three episodes have all been decent to good, so I’m feeling cautiously optimistic.

Ever since she first appeared, M’gann has been a problem for the show. The ditzy sitcom-y character M’gann was portrayed as made all sorts of weird gender dynamics for the show and it never let up. As friend of the blog, Charlotte Howell noted in the comments of M’gann’s first appearance: “I felt very uncomfortable with the dynamic created by so many of the team seeming hit on her and by her weird 1950s-esque gender performance. Knee-high white sox? Ditzy voice and mannerisms? Burning her cookies? They all seem so dated and troubling.”

And it never really let up.

So now we come to “Image” and we discover that M’gann had, in fact, based her entire personality and appearance on a single season of early 1980s sitcom called Hello, Megan. The show centered on a ditzy redheaded cheerleader who dates a cute guy named Conner. She, of course, wears the same outfit that makes up M’gann’s civilian outfit, including the horrible knee-highs.

M’gann adopted all of these traits to hide the fact that she is a white Martian (as I wondered about last year), and she’s very ashamed of it. She assumed the personality of Megan so readily to hide her true identity, and kept up the facade out of concern for what it would mean if anyone discovered this (other than J’onn, who I have to assume knows that she’s a White Martian).

This isn’t a retcon as I feel it’s something the show has planted along the way (she’s mentioned watching a lot of TV to become accustomed to Earth), and the seriousness at which the episode plays this reveal (as well as the wonderfully hokey and spot-on opening to Hello Megan that we get to see in its entirety) actually allows the reveal to have impact, something the show just really hasn’t been able to do before.

And I like that M’gann still doesn’t feel completely safe enough to, even after pretty seriously injuring Psimon, reveal her true form to the team, opting instead for a female version of a green Martian. Of course, this is to help set up Queen Bee’s blackmail (Sirtis delivered on being super evil, as she does) of her, but it still felt fitting that she doesn’t have this one single big breakthrough, or even really any breakthrough at all. She’s still very scared, and that’s going to haunt her and her team.

As I said above, how well they stick to this will really tell how serious the show is about growing. I’d like to see M’gann change some, personality-wise and (please oh please) clothing-wise. I want this to pay off in her portrayal because, otherwise, what’s the point?

I won’t be around next week for the DC programming. Looking into finding someone to cover for me, but we’ll see. If not, you’ll get double episode posts in two weeks!

DC Nation Short: The first of the Captain Marvel (or is it Shazam everywhere?) shorts, and it’s pretty cute. I like the idea of Captain Marvel hawking a Shazamich, highlighting how each letter in the name refers to an ingredient in the sandwich (“Z for the chalky zinc!”). I likewise enjoyed the self-aware”They don’t call me the big cheese for nothing!” at the end.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• If I have one quibble it’s that, aside from that quick mention in “Targets”, why M’gann would be ashamed of being a White Martian (beyond the monstrous appearance) isn’t made exactly clear. So I’m hoping that is unspooled a bit for us going forward.
• Loved the notion that M’gann can change her blood type to match Garfield. It’s a clever way of using her abilities, and it’s very covert way of putting a twist on how Garfield (last name: Logan) becomes Beast Boy.
• Ollie laughing as M’gann posing as Dinah was pretty priceless. Though, posing as Dinah to make out with Superboy was kind of creepy, guys.
• “Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! We just got saved by Robin! And Kid Flash!”
• I chuckled at Wally’s running gag of letting in on knowing that Bruce Wayne and Batman are one and the same, and Robin’s annoyance that he can’t keep his mouth shut.