[7.3/10] Not a bad start to this arc focused on the magic corner of the D.C. Universe. My favorite part of it is the narration of past events by Phantom Stranger. The elemental description of the beings of order and chaos, existing in balance without morality or judgment, comes off well with D.B. Woodside’s booming baritone. He adds equal gravitas to the tale of Vandal Savage and Klarion the Witch Boy’s tender alliance, one born of nearly a year of torture and yet mutual respect between them.
I’m also intrigued by the arrival of Child, a being of chaos taking new form and anchoring herself to Flaw, a mysteriously vivified stone of Atantis with an amusing but low-key unnerving smiley face. The way Child emerges casually into our world, reacts with bemused detachment to its mysteries, and turns a poor security guard inside out makes her scary, even before Klarion reacts with grave concern for her arrival.
(As an aside, the reveal that Vandal Savage founded Atlantis, with the stone that becomes Flaw emerging from there, does a good job of connecting the disparate parts of the episode.)
Oddly enough, the only part of this one I didn’t particularly care for is Zatanna coaching up her new trainees. It just throws a bunch of newbies into the fold with little introduction or establishment, tossing them into a scene with Madame Xanadus, getting into a skirmish with Klarion, and leaving them mostly blank slates for Zatanna to guide without much in the way of reason to care about them. I’ve come to feel that Young Justice basically expects you to know these characters from the comic books, and rarely takes the time to lay the foundation of who they are and why the audience should be invested in them, which makes the start of a new arc less availing than it should be.
All that said, we’ve reached the point where I’m genuinely concerned for Beast Boy, which is something. We’ve gone from depression to what seems like suicidal ideation. I can’t tell if the show’s just being tasteful with Beast Boy’s purchase of sleeping pills, or if I’m out on a limb. But either way, it’s taking his continued grief and disconnecting from the world seriously, which is as admirable as it is concerning.
Overall, a perfectly solid way to get going on this new set of episodes, albeit one that makes me more interested in what happened long in the past and what may happen in the future than what’s happening right now.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2022-08-20T05:10:48Z
[7.3/10] Not a bad start to this arc focused on the magic corner of the D.C. Universe. My favorite part of it is the narration of past events by Phantom Stranger. The elemental description of the beings of order and chaos, existing in balance without morality or judgment, comes off well with D.B. Woodside’s booming baritone. He adds equal gravitas to the tale of Vandal Savage and Klarion the Witch Boy’s tender alliance, one born of nearly a year of torture and yet mutual respect between them.
I’m also intrigued by the arrival of Child, a being of chaos taking new form and anchoring herself to Flaw, a mysteriously vivified stone of Atantis with an amusing but low-key unnerving smiley face. The way Child emerges casually into our world, reacts with bemused detachment to its mysteries, and turns a poor security guard inside out makes her scary, even before Klarion reacts with grave concern for her arrival.
(As an aside, the reveal that Vandal Savage founded Atlantis, with the stone that becomes Flaw emerging from there, does a good job of connecting the disparate parts of the episode.)
Oddly enough, the only part of this one I didn’t particularly care for is Zatanna coaching up her new trainees. It just throws a bunch of newbies into the fold with little introduction or establishment, tossing them into a scene with Madame Xanadus, getting into a skirmish with Klarion, and leaving them mostly blank slates for Zatanna to guide without much in the way of reason to care about them. I’ve come to feel that Young Justice basically expects you to know these characters from the comic books, and rarely takes the time to lay the foundation of who they are and why the audience should be invested in them, which makes the start of a new arc less availing than it should be.
All that said, we’ve reached the point where I’m genuinely concerned for Beast Boy, which is something. We’ve gone from depression to what seems like suicidal ideation. I can’t tell if the show’s just being tasteful with Beast Boy’s purchase of sleeping pills, or if I’m out on a limb. But either way, it’s taking his continued grief and disconnecting from the world seriously, which is as admirable as it is concerning.
Overall, a perfectly solid way to get going on this new set of episodes, albeit one that makes me more interested in what happened long in the past and what may happen in the future than what’s happening right now.