Monsters of Television

“Your will is the core my very being.“

This episode concludes what is essentially an hour-long premiere (which is how it aired as a tease late last year). As is often the case with two-parters, the second half is a more enjoyable time since there’s less need for setting everything up. It is, however, to the show’s benefit that the first part ended not only with a fine set piece, but a clear path forward to the next part, something I feel shows don’t always achieve.

But I feel that this episode is also stronger since it provides a nice and compelling surprise by the episode’s end, one that I genuinely was not expecting the show to do, but found it delightful (and sad, of course). And the episode, like the one before, also sets up the on-going concern of what to do with a problem like Razer, someone who doesn’t necessarily seem irredeemable, and what that rehabilitation process may look like is fairly promising. Read more »

“Spent the rest of his long life making sure his ring was charged.”

I’m not a big Green Lantern fan. All-powerful rings, like all-powerful aliens from Krypton, mean big cosmic villains that steadily have to be one-upped to maintain stakes and threats to the heroes. On the upside for Green Lanterns, their rings run out of energy, meaning they have complete the mission in a set time frame.

But I’m not so much a non-fan that Green Lantern: The Animated Series is a non-starter for me. In fact, the episode is pretty solid, apart from the animation, which is more a matter of personal taste. The story has a nice balance of exposition, humor, adventure, and the action sequences are well-choreographed. Read more »