2x23 Heavy Metal

[5.3/10] Well this was a dud. There’s a lot of reasons for me to want to like this one. I’m a big fan of Michael Dorn’s from Star Trek: The Next Generation. I think Metallo is one of the more intriguing villains (though he hasn’t always had the best episodes). And the whole Steel vs. Metallo shtick is a good gimmick.

But this one is just kind of dull. It feels like any other Saturday morning cartoon, with a cackling villain and arbitrary saves and no real story beyond “good guy in trouble, must beat bad guy.” Hell, I have fond childhood memories of Steel. I even had his action figure. But what is his motivation here beyond beating the bad guy? You need something more than that to make a good episode.

Plus the humor and, shall we say, atmosphere of this one leaves a lot to be desired. Bits like a Metallo blast revealing a fat guy in the tub, or a local calling him “Robo-Butt” is corny, eye-roll worthy humor. Nevermind the episode’s embarrassing attempts to represent black communities. I think I nearly died when Metallo said he had “more business in the hood.” The caricatures weren’t that offensive here, just embarrassingly quaint and misguided.

Steel himself is kind of a yawn. The episode does a nice echo of him saving Superman only for Superman to then save him. And again, Metallo makes sense as an enemy for Steel (even if the show cheesily calls attention to the metal vs. metal idea). But on the whole, he’s just a generic character in an Iron Man-type suit, with little more than a big hammer, a sister, and never-seen grandma to distinguish him.

Overall, this is a weak follow-up to the weak episode that introduced John Henry Irons. The character deserves better.