[7.3/10] There’s some interesting ideas in this one. They don’t really fit together just yet, but there’s time for that I suppose.
On one half of the episode, you have what feels like a vague Lord of the Rings riff. There’s a mysterious crystal from an ancient cave that turns anyone who touches it suddenly evil and ready to kill. It’s protected by a Gollum-like hermit guy (or, more accurately, Gollum meets King Bumi) who’s regularly muttering to himself and so forth. The progression of the various military folks getting their hands on the crystal due to greed and then causing trouble creates some terror and suspense, but for the most part it’s setup without a lot of payoff yet.
The show does have a few nice touches there. The attempt to signify who’s possessed at a given moment by having the character hum an ominous melody is a good choice. (Though why does it sound like “Angels We Have Heard on High”?) Making the general into “Eclipse” because he’s trying to attract the Justice League by donning some crazy costume and threatening people as a feint is a good bit. And the suspense of one of our heroes getting possessed by the death crystal is a good tease for the next episode.
It just doesn’t fit especially well with the other half of the story just yet. Blending a high concept mystical cursed object type story with a “talking heads give heroes bad PR” story is a little dissonant. That said, I like the notion of Flash doing endorsements and trying to revel in the fortune and fame of stardom, only to reflect poorly on superheroes and the League as a whole. The gags don’t always land perfectly, but there’s something there.
I even like the idea of the blowhard talk show host. Granted, the show neuters the character by having him spout totally out of bounds statistics and puffed up jabs rather than focusing on him rightly pointing out that, however much we like the Justice League, they essentially operate above the law. Green Lantern trying to dissuade his more impulsive teammate and Wonder Woman getting offended at the comments about how she dresses are solid beats. That said, we get to some tepid showbiz satire material, with Flash’s venal agent in particular feeling pretty hacky and stock.
Overall, both halves of the episode are solid enough, even if there’s not a lot of synergy between them. Hopefully part two can rectify that.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-08-28T00:53:48Z
[7.3/10] There’s some interesting ideas in this one. They don’t really fit together just yet, but there’s time for that I suppose.
On one half of the episode, you have what feels like a vague Lord of the Rings riff. There’s a mysterious crystal from an ancient cave that turns anyone who touches it suddenly evil and ready to kill. It’s protected by a Gollum-like hermit guy (or, more accurately, Gollum meets King Bumi) who’s regularly muttering to himself and so forth. The progression of the various military folks getting their hands on the crystal due to greed and then causing trouble creates some terror and suspense, but for the most part it’s setup without a lot of payoff yet.
The show does have a few nice touches there. The attempt to signify who’s possessed at a given moment by having the character hum an ominous melody is a good choice. (Though why does it sound like “Angels We Have Heard on High”?) Making the general into “Eclipse” because he’s trying to attract the Justice League by donning some crazy costume and threatening people as a feint is a good bit. And the suspense of one of our heroes getting possessed by the death crystal is a good tease for the next episode.
It just doesn’t fit especially well with the other half of the story just yet. Blending a high concept mystical cursed object type story with a “talking heads give heroes bad PR” story is a little dissonant. That said, I like the notion of Flash doing endorsements and trying to revel in the fortune and fame of stardom, only to reflect poorly on superheroes and the League as a whole. The gags don’t always land perfectly, but there’s something there.
I even like the idea of the blowhard talk show host. Granted, the show neuters the character by having him spout totally out of bounds statistics and puffed up jabs rather than focusing on him rightly pointing out that, however much we like the Justice League, they essentially operate above the law. Green Lantern trying to dissuade his more impulsive teammate and Wonder Woman getting offended at the comments about how she dresses are solid beats. That said, we get to some tepid showbiz satire material, with Flash’s venal agent in particular feeling pretty hacky and stock.
Overall, both halves of the episode are solid enough, even if there’s not a lot of synergy between them. Hopefully part two can rectify that.