[7.3/10] Most of this episode is just one big fight, which is rarely my jam. Sure, it’’s cool enough to see Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, and King Faraday to battle with Devil Ray (Black Manta?), Frostbite, and other foes. But there’s not much to it. It’s just a bunch of indiscriminate combat, with the only real wrinkle being when J’onn strong-arms Frostbite into stopping the avalanche. None of it’s bad. It’s all competent and there’s a few neat moments here and there, but there’s just not much to it beyond the fighting itself.
That said, I do like what we get when the episode doesn’t devolve into fisticuffs. Diana trying to be a diplomat is an interesting beat for her, particularly in the context of climate change. We get a little more of a glimpse at how things work at the Legion of Doom, which is intriguing. And as cheesy as it is, we even get Wonder Woman doing her famous “twirl to change into my superhero costume” routine.
But the meat of the episode comes from the notion that J’onn remains disconnected from humanity and his detachment is hurting him. I’ll admit, that kind of comes out of nowhere, since we seemingly already dealt with this problem in his “psychic powers led me to hear how selfish everyone is” episode, and it hasn’t really come up since. That said, it’s still an interesting throughline, and I particularly appreciate how they make Diana his foil here, as someone who is also a newcomer to the “world of man” and finds a lot of the customs and practices as strange as J’onn does.
The catch is that the episode accomplishes this by drawing out a heavily-signposted parallel between John and an old Norse god who was separated by his love and denied the prospect of an honorable death. The god’s name is even Prince John, just in case you weren’t paying attention! There’s something worthwhile about the notion of being separated from your people and the woman you love in the skies, doomed never to see them again, as something J’onn still struggles with as his counterpart from legend did. But the comparison is so rushed and slapdash here that it doesn’t have as much force as it should.
Still, J’onn deciding to leave the watchtower to grow closer to mankind, in order to avoid Prince John’s unenviable fate is a choice with potential and symbolism, which I can dig. Likewise, the show does little to earn it, but there’s something softly moving about Diana giving the unfrosted Norse warrior the burial rites of his people, especially as she reads the words of the Norse prayer over scenes of both J’onn and Prince John entering two different but new phases of their lives.
Overall, this one goes a little heavy on the dust-ups for my taste, and shortchanges its more interesting thematic material as a result, but the quality of that material is still enough to make this a good episode.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-10-20T23:31:52Z
[7.3/10] Most of this episode is just one big fight, which is rarely my jam. Sure, it’’s cool enough to see Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, and King Faraday to battle with Devil Ray (Black Manta?), Frostbite, and other foes. But there’s not much to it. It’s just a bunch of indiscriminate combat, with the only real wrinkle being when J’onn strong-arms Frostbite into stopping the avalanche. None of it’s bad. It’s all competent and there’s a few neat moments here and there, but there’s just not much to it beyond the fighting itself.
That said, I do like what we get when the episode doesn’t devolve into fisticuffs. Diana trying to be a diplomat is an interesting beat for her, particularly in the context of climate change. We get a little more of a glimpse at how things work at the Legion of Doom, which is intriguing. And as cheesy as it is, we even get Wonder Woman doing her famous “twirl to change into my superhero costume” routine.
But the meat of the episode comes from the notion that J’onn remains disconnected from humanity and his detachment is hurting him. I’ll admit, that kind of comes out of nowhere, since we seemingly already dealt with this problem in his “psychic powers led me to hear how selfish everyone is” episode, and it hasn’t really come up since. That said, it’s still an interesting throughline, and I particularly appreciate how they make Diana his foil here, as someone who is also a newcomer to the “world of man” and finds a lot of the customs and practices as strange as J’onn does.
The catch is that the episode accomplishes this by drawing out a heavily-signposted parallel between John and an old Norse god who was separated by his love and denied the prospect of an honorable death. The god’s name is even Prince John, just in case you weren’t paying attention! There’s something worthwhile about the notion of being separated from your people and the woman you love in the skies, doomed never to see them again, as something J’onn still struggles with as his counterpart from legend did. But the comparison is so rushed and slapdash here that it doesn’t have as much force as it should.
Still, J’onn deciding to leave the watchtower to grow closer to mankind, in order to avoid Prince John’s unenviable fate is a choice with potential and symbolism, which I can dig. Likewise, the show does little to earn it, but there’s something softly moving about Diana giving the unfrosted Norse warrior the burial rites of his people, especially as she reads the words of the Norse prayer over scenes of both J’onn and Prince John entering two different but new phases of their lives.
Overall, this one goes a little heavy on the dust-ups for my taste, and shortchanges its more interesting thematic material as a result, but the quality of that material is still enough to make this a good episode.