[7.3/10] I’m glad to see the show address how parents and guardians might feel about the young heroes in their care going out and doing all this caped adventuring. Ed’s dad, Wonder Girl’s mom, and Jar Garrick (who’s apparently Bart Allen’s legal guardian) questioning whether it’s okay for their kids to put themselves at risk like this is a natural move, and one I’m surprised the show hasn’t explored in more depth for a show focused on young heroes.
Candidly, I wish it was more of an ongoing thing rather than a problem that seems to be solved forever in seven minutes of screen time. That said, the three metateens winning over their parents with points about the need to protect others, reunite families, and follow in Jay Garrick’s noble footsteps is satisfying enough, if rushed. The fact that the Outsiders win over the older generation, and even have them lend credibility to their social media campaign, is a nice win.
I’m also intrigued by all the plotting and machinations on both sides of the good guy/bad guy divide. It’s no surprise, in a superhero show co-created by Greg Weisman, that Lex Luthor is basically Xanatos, with all sorts of plans and contingencies that mean even when he loses, he wins. His ploy to alternatively take out some of his opponents in the U.N. or else demonstrate that the current strings-attached Justice League plan is working so there's no need for vigilantes like The Outsiders is a clever one. The fact that his plan runs aground on the continued popularity of The Outsiders anyway, with even G. Gordon taking up the cause, gives him a nice taste of his own medicine.
What’s troubling, in a good way, is how he loses not because The Outsiders are so upstanding, or even because they earned the buy-in of their parents when promoting the whole “We are all Outsiders” hashtag. It’s because Batman, Miss Martian, and the rest of their allies secretly staged their own dangerous publicity stunt to make Luthor look bad and the Outsiders look good, even if it means fooling Beast Boy and company to achieve it.
There's a lot of intrigue there, with the idea that Batman and the team are becoming as bad, or at least as underhanded as Luthor, in order to beat him, with valid questions from Wonder Woman about whether the ends justify the means or if they’re just becoming the thing they fight against. The parallels to current events aren’t exactly subtle (Luthor says “sad” and there's discussions of “fake news”), but I appreciate the show trying to blend the fictional world and the real one, while raising questions about the heroes’ tactics. The fact that it involves Batman’s old Matches Malone persona is the icing on the cake.
(As an aside, this is a good place to remind folks that Justice League Unlimited has one of the best multi-season meditations on the War on Terror and America’s place in a post 9/11 world of any movie or show out there.)
I still find myself a little unsatisfied by the Violet storyline here. Her recklessness still seems out of character, even if it’s understandable. I wish we had the slightest bit of build or escalation to it, or just actions that felt more like an untethered Violet rather than a completely different person. But I do appreciate the idea that she’s trying to push Brion away with hurtful truths because she wants to spare him from greater hardship when she dies. Otherwise, the actual fight with the Ivo monkeys and Luthor robots wasn’t particularly memorable beyond the reveal, what little we saw of it. The plotting and pacing are still a bit all over the place in the back half of the season, but I’m hoping things will straighten out soon.
Overall, my recurring complaint about certain elements feeling rushed remains, but there's at least some ideas that leave me wanting more.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2022-07-19T23:11:35Z
[7.3/10] I’m glad to see the show address how parents and guardians might feel about the young heroes in their care going out and doing all this caped adventuring. Ed’s dad, Wonder Girl’s mom, and Jar Garrick (who’s apparently Bart Allen’s legal guardian) questioning whether it’s okay for their kids to put themselves at risk like this is a natural move, and one I’m surprised the show hasn’t explored in more depth for a show focused on young heroes.
Candidly, I wish it was more of an ongoing thing rather than a problem that seems to be solved forever in seven minutes of screen time. That said, the three metateens winning over their parents with points about the need to protect others, reunite families, and follow in Jay Garrick’s noble footsteps is satisfying enough, if rushed. The fact that the Outsiders win over the older generation, and even have them lend credibility to their social media campaign, is a nice win.
I’m also intrigued by all the plotting and machinations on both sides of the good guy/bad guy divide. It’s no surprise, in a superhero show co-created by Greg Weisman, that Lex Luthor is basically Xanatos, with all sorts of plans and contingencies that mean even when he loses, he wins. His ploy to alternatively take out some of his opponents in the U.N. or else demonstrate that the current strings-attached Justice League plan is working so there's no need for vigilantes like The Outsiders is a clever one. The fact that his plan runs aground on the continued popularity of The Outsiders anyway, with even G. Gordon taking up the cause, gives him a nice taste of his own medicine.
What’s troubling, in a good way, is how he loses not because The Outsiders are so upstanding, or even because they earned the buy-in of their parents when promoting the whole “We are all Outsiders” hashtag. It’s because Batman, Miss Martian, and the rest of their allies secretly staged their own dangerous publicity stunt to make Luthor look bad and the Outsiders look good, even if it means fooling Beast Boy and company to achieve it.
There's a lot of intrigue there, with the idea that Batman and the team are becoming as bad, or at least as underhanded as Luthor, in order to beat him, with valid questions from Wonder Woman about whether the ends justify the means or if they’re just becoming the thing they fight against. The parallels to current events aren’t exactly subtle (Luthor says “sad” and there's discussions of “fake news”), but I appreciate the show trying to blend the fictional world and the real one, while raising questions about the heroes’ tactics. The fact that it involves Batman’s old Matches Malone persona is the icing on the cake.
(As an aside, this is a good place to remind folks that Justice League Unlimited has one of the best multi-season meditations on the War on Terror and America’s place in a post 9/11 world of any movie or show out there.)
I still find myself a little unsatisfied by the Violet storyline here. Her recklessness still seems out of character, even if it’s understandable. I wish we had the slightest bit of build or escalation to it, or just actions that felt more like an untethered Violet rather than a completely different person. But I do appreciate the idea that she’s trying to push Brion away with hurtful truths because she wants to spare him from greater hardship when she dies.
Otherwise, the actual fight with the Ivo monkeys and Luthor robots wasn’t particularly memorable beyond the reveal, what little we saw of it. The plotting and pacing are still a bit all over the place in the back half of the season, but I’m hoping things will straighten out soon.
Overall, my recurring complaint about certain elements feeling rushed remains, but there's at least some ideas that leave me wanting more.