Monsters of Television

“Yes, we’ll have a nice clear plummet into the pinhole.”

“For future reference, when in my physical form, I prefer not to be pushed into the dirt.”

Apologies for no review last week. Nick didn’t have time to get to it, but I’m glad he managed to tackle last week’s Young Justice for me. As a result, this will be a 2-for-1 post, with thoughts on both “Into the Abyss” and “Heir Apparent.” (Sadly, I have nothing to offer about the DC Nation Short that aired with “Into the Abyss” since I cannot seem to find them online.)

Of the two, “Into the Abyss” is a snappier, more engaging episode than the paint-by-numbers predictability (and lousy action beats) of “Heir Apparent.” Both trade in space opera plots — ship stuck in a black hole and engaging in gladiatorial/knightly combat for the sake of a princess — and that makes it difficult to keep those ideas fresh and interesting for a season viewer.

But seasoned viewer doesn’t necessarily mean me. How often have these two plots been recycled in other shows? Ben 10 or Star Wars: The Clone Wars, for instance? Those are two other space-based shows that I imagine have (or will at some point) do plots rather similar to both of these here with Green Lantern. Did a kid, while watching either of these episodes, say, “Man. They totally copied Ben 10!”

I wonder.

“Into the Abyss”

The episode benefits from strong writing and visuals throughout, both of which help keep the black hole (or, in this case, pin hole) plot from feeling too stale. Through the writing, the crisis of the pin hole becomes the backdrop for the show to offer some character beats, including Razer and Kilowog  coming to terms with one another, and Aya developing past being the on-board computer (I mean, why else Grey DeLelisle if you’re not going to give herself to dig into it?)

It’s the latter that I’m more interested in, however. I’m intrigued by the show’s treatment of Aya, both as disembodied (but still emobodied as the Interceptor) and then embodied as an android (?). Hal dismisses her attempts to offer assistance in dealing with the tow cables and energy conservation (“He must not have heard me,” she says to herself) and later, when she is discussing her value as a physical member of the team, Hal is ready to lay down ground rules, but backs off after Kilowog decides to engage in why a Lantern needs to have a physical appearance to actually be a Lantern.

There’s some interesting policing going on here, and I’m curious to see how far it goes. Certainly Aya leaving the ship into her android form can pose a risk to the rest of the crew (hence Hal’s desire to enact some rules), but then again, no one was listening to her, so she took it upon herself to act, as both Hal and Kilowog have done by leaving Oa with her in the first place.

But the more interesting aspect is how Hal, Kilowog, and Razer interact with her, talk to her and with her, now that she is capable of taking a physical form. There’s an issue of gender dynamics that I’m less than thrilled with (see below in “Heir Apparent”), but at least there’s a female on the show now, one that is identifiable as such, which is at least a minor improvement.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• Kilowog and Razer “shaking hands” is perhaps the funniest thing ever.
• The animation, as I mentioned, is top notch in the episode. Between the delivery ship slowly being crushed by the gravity to Kilowog and Razer’s fight to the silly-but-still-cool circling of the pin hole to achieve escape velocity, it was a really good looking episode.
• “What did I say about killing each other?”

“Heir Apparent”

This episode is serving a couple of different masters, which could explain the lack of a cohesive episode. Not only the gladiatorial/knight combat stuff, but there’s also staying true to the origin of Iolande becoming Green Lantern, which the episode follows in broad strokes. Perhaps the two plots don’t marry well, or perhaps a simple investigation into why Lanterns keep dying on Betrassus would’ve served the story better than the simplistic matter of winning Iolande’s hand in combat.

But this gets, again, to the gender dynamics of the show.  A joke about how quickly Aya can assemble herself compared to other women Hal knows demonstrates not only lazy writing but a lack of progressive thinking about gender. You’d think a guy who has traveled around the galaxy would perhaps be just a bit less of a jerk about people getting ready to head out the door. Despite this, it is at least a way for the show to acknowledge that Hal, at least, sees Aya as a woman (or female, anyway), and I’ll be curious to see how that plays moving forward.

Iolande’s position in the episode, on the other hand, isn’t too enhanced by the stockness of the plot (unlike the solid work the pin hole provided Aya). She’s strong-ish, but not strong enough to fend off coup-like advances of an overzealous military guy who isn’t willing to back the hell off and swear fealty to her until after she receives a power ring and could easily kick his behind to the other side of the planet. It’s not a sign of respect or loyalty to her as a person or even her position within the royal lineage, just the power she now wields.

Ragnar’s “reversal” is far too telegraphed from his sneaking around, curiosity about the rings, and constantly shoving drinks toward Kilowog, so his sudden but inevitable betrayal doesn’t have any weight to it, leading to a less-than-interesting chase through the city. Indeed, the only bits of animation I really liked in the episode occurred as Razer and Aya were informing Hal and Kilowog about finding the dead Lantern. The shadows and movements in the scene was top-notch.

DC Nation Short: Another New Teen Titans short, again centered around Beast Boy. This time Beast Boy must resist the temptation to eat a plate of cookies. Again, a simple premise that is well-executed, with Robin serving as the angel on his shoulder and Cyborg as the little devil. There’s whimsy (Little Starfire traveling through Beast Boy’s head) and genuine dry humor (Raven’s “Eat the stupid cookie” cracked me up) to finally the joke coming full circle with a conscience version of Beast Boy talking to Beast Boy, the former of which begins to eat the cookies.

I would be curious to know how these shorts in particular play for folks not familiar with the Teen Titans TV show, and whether or not my reaction stems from my attachment to that program.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• So, Hal, how’s Carol doing while you’re kissing alien women?
• “You may be unaware that I can hear every sound on this vessel.”
• “You look fine.” “You also look fine.” Oh, just get a room you two.
• “Kofak is very skilled on his machine.” SO. MANY. JOKES.
•  Someone needs to tell the segment producers to stop with the DC Gadget in Real Life demonstrations. Green Arrow knock-out gas arrow? But with a paint burst? Really? Just stop.