2x12 True Colors

[7.4/10] How many colors of Beetles do we need? I guess three isn’t that many, but it’s starting to feel like Power Rangers in here. I’ll confess, the concept of The Reach seeding scarabs across the galaxy so as to have operatives on every planet is somewhat cool, and having a hero with the combined powers of Blue Beetle and Martian Manhunter is a mash-up treat. (Phil Lamar using his Samurai Jack voice for Green Beetle doesn’t hurt either.) But it feels like we’re randomly throwing out more and more lore and characters at this point, and the whole thing starts to feel unwieldy.

Nevertheless, the basic premise of this one is solid. Robin leading a squad of Blue Beetle, Impulse, and Arsenal on a covert mission to find out what The Reach is doing with Luthor via their fancy produce gestures toward the larger threat while also creating an immediate, smaller scale obstacle for the young heroes to overcome. I particularly like how Robin’s frustrated by Arsenal freelancing and getting noisy and conspicuous during what was supposed to be a stealth mission, but covering for his teammate to Nightwing, showing a certain burden of command.

Frankly, I’m not sure why Arsenal is on the team at all, since he seemed pretty disturbed the last time we saw him, but maybe they think they can’t deny him a place after all that he’s been through? It’s still a little odd.

The fight with Black Beetle that ensues is pretty standard stuff. Again, he seems invincible, b ut this isn’t a season finale, so you know the team will get away unscathed, and it’s just another chance to build him up. There’s nothing particularly clever about the Alpha Squad’s efforts to neutralize him, beyond showing how powerful he is. I suppose there is a broader purpose to demonstrating that Jaime can’t match him unless he allows the scarab to take over, something he refuses to do out of a desire to avoid Impulse’s prophecy. But for the most part, it’s generic battling until Green Beetle shows up randomly to save the day, something that feels like a bit of a cheat.

That said, the bits at the margin are all worth the price of admission here. I like The Atom and Bumblebee shrinking down to try to remove the scarab from the inside and finding that it has a defense mechanism they can’t overcome. Sportsmaster making his bid for fair recompense to The Light, only to be chased out by none other than Deathstroke (aka Slade for Teen Titans fans) when he’s denied and goes after Black Manta adds a neat compilation to the villain contingent. The prospect of Psimon attempting to reconstruct Kaldur’s mind and exposing his secrets to Black Manta is worth a raised eyebrow. And the prospect of Luthor, Vandal Savage, and The Reach tampering with the human population via alien-branded V8 is intriguing.

Overall, the Beetle business is getting a bit strained and tiresome already, but I appreciate the smaller details and richer character work happening on the edges of the story.