Young Justice S1E07: Denial
Feb. 20th, 2011 05:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ravensweptReal magic, fake magic, a Kid Flash episode, and the voice of Lexington. Three outta four ain't bad.
Episode Recap
We cold open to a hovering computer image of the Helmet of Doctor Fate... which, unless you know what that means, is worthless to you. It's a spinning yellow helmet with only two eye holes, no context, no nothing, just either you know it or you don't.
So, pretty much ignoring that, we skip down to New Orleans, where it's always night, a band is always playing "When the Saints Come Marching In", and the female will always be voiced by Cree Summers. An old man walks into fortune teller's parlor, Madam Xanadu's (don't worry, there's no neon disco rollerskating), looking to speak to his deceased wife. Of course, girl needs to get paid first, which she is in a nice little money wad which she sticks down the front of her blouse (you know, for kids!).
Xanadu goes into a trance; the table shakes and lifts, there's wind blowing, her eyes start to glow... oh yeah, it's a total sham, the guy straight up laughs in her face, saying the bemoaning and demur "wife" she conjured was nothing like his wife, who woulda kicked his hinnie for shelling out money to this fake. I give her credit for keeping the act up, you know right up until he points out all the gimmicks she has going. Which is sad, I guess, because she could be the real thing if she tried (like in the comics). Then, out of freaking nowhere, a guy with an open collar shows up, grabs the old one and disappears, frightening Madam out of the room. Old guy's cane makes like a loyal dog and disappears as well. Annnnnd roll credits!
At the team mountain, there appears to be a training session going on. Sadly no Black Canary in sight. Superboy (going shirtless, for the ladies) vs Aqualad in the ring, while the girls and KF watch. The bosom buddies suggest a boy for the other, Artemis says Megan should go for Aqualad, while Miss M says Artemis and Wally would make a darling couple, both avoiding the unspoken bitter hatred of the other that they really just don't want the other going after their personal cabana boy, Superboy, who judo throws Aqualad to win their little match.
Red Tornado shwoops in, looking for a second like cat-hairball drain plug, and again KF buggers him about a mission. And again, RT says missions are the Batman's job, not his,so stop asking you little punk. Batman, as well with distraction Robin, are said to be having a bring your Robin to work day, so he's busy, while RT is right here ready to be nagged. With a little more dilpomacy, Aqualad offers their services should they be able to help. Well, that's good enough for Robbie the Robot, who gives us a low down on the old guy from the opening; Kent Nelson, 106 years old (and not a day over 70), is missing. Nelson was a founding member of the Justice Society, the precusor to the League, and the protector/watcher/babysitter of the Helmet of Nabu, which when worn turns the wearer into Doctor Fate, the Earth's Sorceror Supreme (Marvel's gonna sue).
Anywho, Nelson's been missing for close to a month, and the League wants to make sure the guardian of the helmet hasn't been captured by evil magicians or anything, so RT gives them a key to do some breaking and entering. Megan is genuinely pleased, being honored to help a true sorceror like those from her planet (which makes me want to see the Mars version of The Prestige); Wally, master of subtly he is, up until this point has riducled magic for being smoke and mirrors. As soon as Miss M mentions her belief, there he is right behind her like a dog with a boner. When, while on the way to where they're going (Salem, of course, how witchy), Artemis asks how long he was a "believer", KF says that he once considered becoming a wizard (while staring googlely eyed at Miss M), which just makes everyone (except Miss M, who kinda ignores him really) roll their eyes. They land in a open park area, where supposed the home of Doc Fate is. A weird cat watches them.
And is it convienent that right across from there is an abandoned theater, where, convienently, Kent Nelson is being held by Open Collar (who has a voice that sounds like Alan Rickman with a slight head cold) and some skinny kid with dual wicked cow licks (whose voice is rather disturbing, in a whiny brat kinda way). They want into the magic tower, but Nelson refuses to give in. The cat, a pet of the skinny kid, reports back that the teen team has landed.
Outside, they can't find any trace of the tower themselves, not even by tech camoflauge. Artemis suggests a babble of technowhatzits, which Wally is quick to agree toooo, right up until Megan walks into frame and he's against it. No one looks amused. Hidden from view, the skinny kid asks Open Collar (real alias, Abra Kadabra (really really)) is he's using that technobabble himself; yes, yes he is.
Aqualad moves the plot forward by saying it's test of faith; he walks forward and inserts the key into thin air, which reveals the magical tower. They enter. Inside the tower has a greeter, a yellowish projection of Kent acting like Jeeves from the Iron Man movie. He asks what do you darn kids want; Wally, still trying to impress Megan, speaks hautly about being true believers looking for Doctor Fate. Even the projection looks insulted by his stupidity, and the tower tries to eat them; sorta, it drops the floor out from under them to fall into some lava. Everyone manages to save themselves/each other, while Megan (again, doing her I-hate-her-"catchphrase" "Hello Megan" routine) figures out that they never really answered the projection's question, which she yells out. This pleases the lava pool, which closes up and everyone's safe. Artemis immediately wants to beat the living hell out of Wally, who actually asks why it was his fault (I hate you so much). It's quickly pointed out that he lied about being a "true believer" in magic, something that Megan apparently was naive about (seriously, you're not dumb, why do you believe him?). Wally gets angry, and comes clean about thinking magic is not real and how everything can be explained. I'm not sure what kinda of -ism is needed here, but figure out one for magic and that's the kind of -ist Wally is; he seems to take it as a personal insult.
While all this is going on, our villains force Kent into the tower (which automatically opens for him), and mute him so he can't talk. When (what seems as kinda odd) the projection that looks like Kent asks Kent why he brought these people here for, the mute collar he's wearing speaks for him, telling a blatent lie that they're "his friends". The projection Kent seems to be amused, disappears, and the most overused cliche of extradimensions, the M.C. Esher stairs world, opens up to them.
Back with team angst, they discover a door in the floor that's between them and the lava. Wally's all worried about it, but once open reveals snow; it's like a non-wardrobe Naria. They enter the winter wonderland, the door closing and disappearing behind them; Wally sticks with science, spouting string-theory and pocket dimensions. Also right in front of them is Kent's forgotten cane, floating in the air. Artemis and Wally grab it at the same time, find that somebody pulled the old "magic cane with glue on it" trick, and promptly disafuckingpear, leaving Superboy, Miss M, and Aqualad to just look at each other like, "Finally."
Kadabra, Captain Cowlick, and Nelson are wandering the Esher world, Cowlick being an annoying twit, while Nelson is just leading them in 5th dimensional circles for laughs. Artemis and Wally and Cane-y appear on another staircase nearby; I guess the cane is part teleporting bloodhound. Being in proximity to the cane, Kent recovers his magic and jumps over to the teens. He opens an elevator door where wasn't one, and they escape the two evil heads for a quick second.
Inside they have musac, and a quick little chat about what's going down. Cowlick out there is called Klarion the Witch Boy (it was a different time when you could name your villains these things), who is the true mastermind at work here; Abra Kadabra is just some muscle. Klarion is a Lord of Chaos, who wants the Helmet (Doctor Fate is an opposing Lord of Order) to cause world wide panic and chaos because he's a turd that way. So, of course, they need to stop him.
Meanwhile, Superboy, Aqualad, and Miss M wander the snowland looking for...something, discussing why Wally is so magic-tarded. We're told that he's science minded, and needs to be able to explain the impossible so he can think he has control over a situation. Personally, I just think he's being a douchebag, but hey, whatever floats your boat. They spot an open door and staircase, which will conviently dump them into the next fight scene.
The elevator door opens and we see a giant bell nabbed from a Hunchback of Notre Dame production. As previously stated, the other three are dumped into the scene. Despite not being able to find it with him as a captive, and not knowing where he went, Kadabra and Klarion are able to show up and kick start the fight. Nelson hits the bell, which acts like a doorbell and he, Wally and a chasing Klarion disappear to the top of the tower, where Fate's helmet just floats like a pool floatie.
Just to skip the part coming up, the whole team (minus Wally) get their butts kicked by Kadabra, so it's all up to Wally to save the day.
Klarion and Kent have a short little skirmish, Witch Boy getting in a hit on Kent which pretty much does him in. Nelson is able to enact a protective spell before passing on (he is old, so he's allowed to die) telling Wally he'll know what to do, again saying it's a test of faith. Having no way out, he puts on the helmet. Suddenly he's standing in a spotlight surrounded by nothing, but at least the spirit of Kent is still there to prattle on like an old guy; I guess he used the helmet so much, and was it's protector so long, his spirit got sucked into it instead of going to heaven. Sommabitch. Seems that while he was "technically" Doctor Fate, Fate is really the helmet and the spirit within; when Kent wore the helmet he was just the physical body, which is what's happening to Wally right now.
Fate and Klarion do mystic battle stuff, which amounts to a lot of throwing bolts of light at the other. It goes on, the Witch Boy gaining the upperhand for dramatic tension, until Fate decides to go after the cat Klarion's been carrying with him everywhere. The cat's the weakness; while Fate is bound to the helmet, Klarion is bound to his cat, his familiar, and should the widdle kitty be harmed enough, Klarion would have no anchor to this reality; indeed, Klarion starts to flicter like lost cellphone reception.
I'm gonna point out here, because I'm not sure I heard it right, Klarion jumps into a portal for safety; when he does so, I swear I heard him say "Holy crap". Whether he really did, or if it was just something that sounded like that and was the spell for the portal I don't know, but wow points for getting shit past the censors.
Anyway, Klarion runs away with his pet, Fate strips Abra Kadabra near naked (leaving him in ponytail, gold necklace and black tightie undies, seriously) which takes away his powers, allowing him to be taken out with a single punch (granted by Superboy, but still, one punch).
Back on the roof, Fate doesn't take off the helmet, a tad pissed he's been out of practice/use for so long (it's said that Kent hasn't put on the helmet in 65 years), feeling that the earth needs him. Since there is no Doctor Fate Jr, Kent and Wally manage to argue his freedom, Kent deciding to stay in the helmet with Fate as helmet-mates until Wally finds a suitible canidate to take over the DF mantle. Given that this is Wally we're talking about, I trust him to forget about it as soon as he leaves the same room as the helmet, but Fate agrees and let's Wally go. Kent, before that happens, tells Wally to find his own spitfire who won't let him get away with anything (the entire episode he's constantly looking to his watch where a picture of his dead wife, Inza, is, and he will not shut up about her; it's supposed to be cute and lovey, but really it's kinda annoying), you know just like that and the helmet comes off and we never hear the name. Clever.
Everything back to status quo, we cut to Wally's trophy room, where we see his collection of souvnirs from episodes past. He places the Helmet of Fate on the shelf as well, and I thinking even more he's just gonna forget about it. Artemis is all leaning against the doorway kinda cute like, asks what happened when he put on the helmet; he spouts some mumbo-jumbo science talk, basically saying he learned nothing (that's he's gonna willingly admit) from the whole experience, which just infuriates Artemis. They're so cute together. Wally gives the helmet one last look, remember the last thing Nelson said (minus the line with the possible name (like you couldn't guess)), but then is distracted by Megan walking down the hallway and giving chase, the moron. To his credit, he did kinda-sorta ask her on a date, saying he got two tickets... to a magic show *facepalm*.
Kid Flash Souvnir: Helmet of Nabu/Doctor Fate (temporary)
Character Analysis
Robin: Non-existant this round, getting his Dynamic Duo on with the Bats.
Kid Flash: Growing more annoying by the episode. At least with Artemis he's getting called out on it. Also (though I'm willing to let this slide as a "being a teen" thing) he's willing to maybe place the team in danger in his attempts to impress Miss M. Not cool. But he's also not completely stupid, as he seems to know that he feels something towards Artemis, he's just not ready to go after someone who might actually return his feelings. Miss M is safe to him, so he'll stick with that.
Aqualad: Meh.
Superboy: Double meh. Least there's some continueation of his training with Black Canary, so that wasn't forgotten about.
Miss Martian: Really girl, buy a clue. You can't honestly be this naive or willing to overlook how stupid Wally is being around you, are you? Cause you ignored some pretty bad acting/bald faced lies right there. She does have a nice back-and-forth with Artemis, as much as we saw, and she's clearly aiming to make sure she's the only availible girl for Superboy.
Artemis: Thank god for her, because otherwise I don't think they could get away with what they're doing with Kid Flash here. She calls him on his bullshit, and is rightfully angry that he placed them in danger because of it. She's also not going to remain as silent as the others are around him. We did get to see a somewhat soft side of her, in the trophy room, which, of course, Wally promptly ruined. A note I noted, she's kinda severe looking in civvies, girl needs to let her hair loose or something.
Villain(s): Hmm, I'm of mixed feelings here. The thing with magic, usually especially in comics, is that they don't require big costumes or fancy duds. So making them look cool is sometimes a lot harder. Case in point, Abra Kadabra. If I didn't explain it well above, AK is not a true magician. He uses highly advanced technology that only looks like magic (he's from the future, not really explained, but there it is). His look was just kinda weird, he was two strippers away from looking like he ran a sweaty brothal in Vegas. Open collar; not a sexy or intimidating look.
Klarion (the Witch Boy) was interesting. I'm aware he's been seen in previous animated DC fare, but nothing I've personally seen, so this is a first for me. He's this strange, evil, bratty, whiny, creepy dude that you don't know if you want to make fun of or run from. Which works for him. His voice is something else, done by Thom Adcox-Hernandez, who previously did the voice of Lexington for Gargoyles, so he and Weisman propably know each other. His young, raspy voice works so well, I don't think anyone else could have pulled this off half as good. Kudos for that. Oh, and his cat's name was Teekl.
Episode Analysis
I just realized that there was very little superpower usage in this episode. KF did some minor running, MM floated a bit, Superboy showed that he's lava resistant, but there was no real fighting. Kadabra took them down embarrassingly fast, so everything that happened was mainly between Nelson and our two villains; oh, and Fate, once he showed up.
This was a Wally episode. As my least favorite character on the team (at least until he stops hitting on Miss Martian every second), I can't say they did much with, or for, him. All that was really brought to light was that he doesn't believe in magic, and relies on his knowledge of science to explain the impossible. Which is kinda strange, given that the League has a resident magician, Zatara, who uses real magic as well. Sooo, what gives, you just need someone to be against it? Not really the best choice, as it really only makes him look more stupid in comparison. And to end with the, "he did learn something, but he won't show it" thing is just overdone; let him learn something or not, but don't just take it back like a dollar bill on a fishing line.
We got to see the trophy room, which is currently fairly large, so the writers are obviously hoping to fill that empty space. Seems silly to have Wally be the one to be in charge of Fate's Helmet, being as he doesn't believe in it and is placing it in the room where he keeps his keepsakes, but maybe it'll get a callback later on. Hopefully.
Final Thoughts
Let's see; Wally's still a dumbass, Robin was a non-entity, no one was really given much evolution except maybe Wally and Artemis, and this may have been the first time the Light weren't in/directly responible for something. Not much to it really.
This gets a fifty/fifty mark for character eps; not as good as "Schooled", not as bad as "Happy Harbor", and "Happy Harbor" had a much better villain. Part of that I think is in how they set up whatever obsticle it is the particular character has to overcome. "Schooled" dealt directly with Superboy and his anger/parental issues, so we felt more from his struggle. His willingness to change shows development. Here, it's just dropped on us that Wally disbelieves in magic, and it's kinda made to be a big deal, given what they do for a living. Expect, minus this episode, it doesn't feel like it's going to amount to anything beyond these 22 minutes. It's a sitcom problem, here for the moment but forgotten by the next show. At best we got some minor setup for Wally and Artemis' eventual hook up, but that was such a forgone conclusion it comes off as a waste.
Going by the pattern, it's a mission ep next go-round, so I'm looking forward to that. More Artemis. Hopefully some new heroes as well as villains; they have a whole world to play with, I wanna see people besides those the League sanction.
Episode Recap
We cold open to a hovering computer image of the Helmet of Doctor Fate... which, unless you know what that means, is worthless to you. It's a spinning yellow helmet with only two eye holes, no context, no nothing, just either you know it or you don't.
So, pretty much ignoring that, we skip down to New Orleans, where it's always night, a band is always playing "When the Saints Come Marching In", and the female will always be voiced by Cree Summers. An old man walks into fortune teller's parlor, Madam Xanadu's (don't worry, there's no neon disco rollerskating), looking to speak to his deceased wife. Of course, girl needs to get paid first, which she is in a nice little money wad which she sticks down the front of her blouse (you know, for kids!).
Xanadu goes into a trance; the table shakes and lifts, there's wind blowing, her eyes start to glow... oh yeah, it's a total sham, the guy straight up laughs in her face, saying the bemoaning and demur "wife" she conjured was nothing like his wife, who woulda kicked his hinnie for shelling out money to this fake. I give her credit for keeping the act up, you know right up until he points out all the gimmicks she has going. Which is sad, I guess, because she could be the real thing if she tried (like in the comics). Then, out of freaking nowhere, a guy with an open collar shows up, grabs the old one and disappears, frightening Madam out of the room. Old guy's cane makes like a loyal dog and disappears as well. Annnnnd roll credits!
At the team mountain, there appears to be a training session going on. Sadly no Black Canary in sight. Superboy (going shirtless, for the ladies) vs Aqualad in the ring, while the girls and KF watch. The bosom buddies suggest a boy for the other, Artemis says Megan should go for Aqualad, while Miss M says Artemis and Wally would make a darling couple, both avoiding the unspoken bitter hatred of the other that they really just don't want the other going after their personal cabana boy, Superboy, who judo throws Aqualad to win their little match.
Red Tornado shwoops in, looking for a second like cat-hairball drain plug, and again KF buggers him about a mission. And again, RT says missions are the Batman's job, not his,
Anywho, Nelson's been missing for close to a month, and the League wants to make sure the guardian of the helmet hasn't been captured by evil magicians or anything, so RT gives them a key to do some breaking and entering. Megan is genuinely pleased, being honored to help a true sorceror like those from her planet (which makes me want to see the Mars version of The Prestige); Wally, master of subtly he is, up until this point has riducled magic for being smoke and mirrors. As soon as Miss M mentions her belief, there he is right behind her like a dog with a bone
And is it convienent that right across from there is an abandoned theater, where, convienently, Kent Nelson is being held by Open Collar (who has a voice that sounds like Alan Rickman with a slight head cold) and some skinny kid with dual wicked cow licks (whose voice is rather disturbing, in a whiny brat kinda way). They want into the magic tower, but Nelson refuses to give in. The cat, a pet of the skinny kid, reports back that the teen team has landed.
Outside, they can't find any trace of the tower themselves, not even by tech camoflauge. Artemis suggests a babble of technowhatzits, which Wally is quick to agree toooo, right up until Megan walks into frame and he's against it. No one looks amused. Hidden from view, the skinny kid asks Open Collar (real alias, Abra Kadabra (really really)) is he's using that technobabble himself; yes, yes he is.
Aqualad moves the plot forward by saying it's test of faith; he walks forward and inserts the key into thin air, which reveals the magical tower. They enter. Inside the tower has a greeter, a yellowish projection of Kent acting like Jeeves from the Iron Man movie. He asks what do you darn kids want; Wally, still trying to impress Megan, speaks hautly about being true believers looking for Doctor Fate. Even the projection looks insulted by his stupidity, and the tower tries to eat them; sorta, it drops the floor out from under them to fall into some lava. Everyone manages to save themselves/each other, while Megan (again, doing her I-hate-her-"catchphrase" "Hello Megan" routine) figures out that they never really answered the projection's question, which she yells out. This pleases the lava pool, which closes up and everyone's safe. Artemis immediately wants to beat the living hell out of Wally, who actually asks why it was his fault (I hate you so much). It's quickly pointed out that he lied about being a "true believer" in magic, something that Megan apparently was naive about (seriously, you're not dumb, why do you believe him?). Wally gets angry, and comes clean about thinking magic is not real and how everything can be explained. I'm not sure what kinda of -ism is needed here, but figure out one for magic and that's the kind of -ist Wally is; he seems to take it as a personal insult.
While all this is going on, our villains force Kent into the tower (which automatically opens for him), and mute him so he can't talk. When (what seems as kinda odd) the projection that looks like Kent asks Kent why he brought these people here for, the mute collar he's wearing speaks for him, telling a blatent lie that they're "his friends". The projection Kent seems to be amused, disappears, and the most overused cliche of extradimensions, the M.C. Esher stairs world, opens up to them.
Back with team angst, they discover a door in the floor that's between them and the lava. Wally's all worried about it, but once open reveals snow; it's like a non-wardrobe Naria. They enter the winter wonderland, the door closing and disappearing behind them; Wally sticks with science, spouting string-theory and pocket dimensions. Also right in front of them is Kent's forgotten cane, floating in the air. Artemis and Wally grab it at the same time, find that somebody pulled the old "magic cane with glue on it" trick, and promptly disafuckingpear, leaving Superboy, Miss M, and Aqualad to just look at each other like, "Finally."
Kadabra, Captain Cowlick, and Nelson are wandering the Esher world, Cowlick being an annoying twit, while Nelson is just leading them in 5th dimensional circles for laughs. Artemis and Wally and Cane-y appear on another staircase nearby; I guess the cane is part teleporting bloodhound. Being in proximity to the cane, Kent recovers his magic and jumps over to the teens. He opens an elevator door where wasn't one, and they escape the two evil heads for a quick second.
Inside they have musac, and a quick little chat about what's going down. Cowlick out there is called Klarion the Witch Boy (it was a different time when you could name your villains these things), who is the true mastermind at work here; Abra Kadabra is just some muscle. Klarion is a Lord of Chaos, who wants the Helmet (Doctor Fate is an opposing Lord of Order) to cause world wide panic and chaos because he's a turd that way. So, of course, they need to stop him.
Meanwhile, Superboy, Aqualad, and Miss M wander the snowland looking for...something, discussing why Wally is so magic-tarded. We're told that he's science minded, and needs to be able to explain the impossible so he can think he has control over a situation. Personally, I just think he's being a douchebag, but hey, whatever floats your boat. They spot an open door and staircase, which will conviently dump them into the next fight scene.
The elevator door opens and we see a giant bell nabbed from a Hunchback of Notre Dame production. As previously stated, the other three are dumped into the scene. Despite not being able to find it with him as a captive, and not knowing where he went, Kadabra and Klarion are able to show up and kick start the fight. Nelson hits the bell, which acts like a doorbell and he, Wally and a chasing Klarion disappear to the top of the tower, where Fate's helmet just floats like a pool floatie.
Just to skip the part coming up, the whole team (minus Wally) get their butts kicked by Kadabra, so it's all up to Wally to save the day.
Klarion and Kent have a short little skirmish, Witch Boy getting in a hit on Kent which pretty much does him in. Nelson is able to enact a protective spell before passing on (he is old, so he's allowed to die) telling Wally he'll know what to do, again saying it's a test of faith. Having no way out, he puts on the helmet. Suddenly he's standing in a spotlight surrounded by nothing, but at least the spirit of Kent is still there to prattle on like an old guy; I guess he used the helmet so much, and was it's protector so long, his spirit got sucked into it instead of going to heaven. Sommabitch. Seems that while he was "technically" Doctor Fate, Fate is really the helmet and the spirit within; when Kent wore the helmet he was just the physical body, which is what's happening to Wally right now.
Fate and Klarion do mystic battle stuff, which amounts to a lot of throwing bolts of light at the other. It goes on, the Witch Boy gaining the upperhand for dramatic tension, until Fate decides to go after the cat Klarion's been carrying with him everywhere. The cat's the weakness; while Fate is bound to the helmet, Klarion is bound to his cat, his familiar, and should the widdle kitty be harmed enough, Klarion would have no anchor to this reality; indeed, Klarion starts to flicter like lost cellphone reception.
I'm gonna point out here, because I'm not sure I heard it right, Klarion jumps into a portal for safety; when he does so, I swear I heard him say "Holy crap". Whether he really did, or if it was just something that sounded like that and was the spell for the portal I don't know, but wow points for getting shit past the censors.
Anyway, Klarion runs away with his pet, Fate strips Abra Kadabra near naked (leaving him in ponytail, gold necklace and black tightie undies, seriously) which takes away his powers, allowing him to be taken out with a single punch (granted by Superboy, but still, one punch).
Back on the roof, Fate doesn't take off the helmet, a tad pissed he's been out of practice/use for so long (it's said that Kent hasn't put on the helmet in 65 years), feeling that the earth needs him. Since there is no Doctor Fate Jr, Kent and Wally manage to argue his freedom, Kent deciding to stay in the helmet with Fate as helmet-mates until Wally finds a suitible canidate to take over the DF mantle. Given that this is Wally we're talking about, I trust him to forget about it as soon as he leaves the same room as the helmet, but Fate agrees and let's Wally go. Kent, before that happens, tells Wally to find his own spitfire who won't let him get away with anything (the entire episode he's constantly looking to his watch where a picture of his dead wife, Inza, is, and he will not shut up about her; it's supposed to be cute and lovey, but really it's kinda annoying), you know just like that and the helmet comes off and we never hear the name. Clever.
Everything back to status quo, we cut to Wally's trophy room, where we see his collection of souvnirs from episodes past. He places the Helmet of Fate on the shelf as well, and I thinking even more he's just gonna forget about it. Artemis is all leaning against the doorway kinda cute like, asks what happened when he put on the helmet; he spouts some mumbo-jumbo science talk, basically saying he learned nothing (that's he's gonna willingly admit) from the whole experience, which just infuriates Artemis. They're so cute together. Wally gives the helmet one last look, remember the last thing Nelson said (minus the line with the possible name (like you couldn't guess)), but then is distracted by Megan walking down the hallway and giving chase, the moron. To his credit, he did kinda-sorta ask her on a date, saying he got two tickets... to a magic show *facepalm*.
Kid Flash Souvnir: Helmet of Nabu/Doctor Fate (temporary)
Character Analysis
Robin: Non-existant this round, getting his Dynamic Duo on with the Bats.
Kid Flash: Growing more annoying by the episode. At least with Artemis he's getting called out on it. Also (though I'm willing to let this slide as a "being a teen" thing) he's willing to maybe place the team in danger in his attempts to impress Miss M. Not cool. But he's also not completely stupid, as he seems to know that he feels something towards Artemis, he's just not ready to go after someone who might actually return his feelings. Miss M is safe to him, so he'll stick with that.
Aqualad: Meh.
Superboy: Double meh. Least there's some continueation of his training with Black Canary, so that wasn't forgotten about.
Miss Martian: Really girl, buy a clue. You can't honestly be this naive or willing to overlook how stupid Wally is being around you, are you? Cause you ignored some pretty bad acting/bald faced lies right there. She does have a nice back-and-forth with Artemis, as much as we saw, and she's clearly aiming to make sure she's the only availible girl for Superboy.
Artemis: Thank god for her, because otherwise I don't think they could get away with what they're doing with Kid Flash here. She calls him on his bullshit, and is rightfully angry that he placed them in danger because of it. She's also not going to remain as silent as the others are around him. We did get to see a somewhat soft side of her, in the trophy room, which, of course, Wally promptly ruined. A note I noted, she's kinda severe looking in civvies, girl needs to let her hair loose or something.
Villain(s): Hmm, I'm of mixed feelings here. The thing with magic, usually especially in comics, is that they don't require big costumes or fancy duds. So making them look cool is sometimes a lot harder. Case in point, Abra Kadabra. If I didn't explain it well above, AK is not a true magician. He uses highly advanced technology that only looks like magic (he's from the future, not really explained, but there it is). His look was just kinda weird, he was two strippers away from looking like he ran a sweaty brothal in Vegas. Open collar; not a sexy or intimidating look.
Klarion (the Witch Boy) was interesting. I'm aware he's been seen in previous animated DC fare, but nothing I've personally seen, so this is a first for me. He's this strange, evil, bratty, whiny, creepy dude that you don't know if you want to make fun of or run from. Which works for him. His voice is something else, done by Thom Adcox-Hernandez, who previously did the voice of Lexington for Gargoyles, so he and Weisman propably know each other. His young, raspy voice works so well, I don't think anyone else could have pulled this off half as good. Kudos for that. Oh, and his cat's name was Teekl.
Episode Analysis
I just realized that there was very little superpower usage in this episode. KF did some minor running, MM floated a bit, Superboy showed that he's lava resistant, but there was no real fighting. Kadabra took them down embarrassingly fast, so everything that happened was mainly between Nelson and our two villains; oh, and Fate, once he showed up.
This was a Wally episode. As my least favorite character on the team (at least until he stops hitting on Miss Martian every second), I can't say they did much with, or for, him. All that was really brought to light was that he doesn't believe in magic, and relies on his knowledge of science to explain the impossible. Which is kinda strange, given that the League has a resident magician, Zatara, who uses real magic as well. Sooo, what gives, you just need someone to be against it? Not really the best choice, as it really only makes him look more stupid in comparison. And to end with the, "he did learn something, but he won't show it" thing is just overdone; let him learn something or not, but don't just take it back like a dollar bill on a fishing line.
We got to see the trophy room, which is currently fairly large, so the writers are obviously hoping to fill that empty space. Seems silly to have Wally be the one to be in charge of Fate's Helmet, being as he doesn't believe in it and is placing it in the room where he keeps his keepsakes, but maybe it'll get a callback later on. Hopefully.
Final Thoughts
Let's see; Wally's still a dumbass, Robin was a non-entity, no one was really given much evolution except maybe Wally and Artemis, and this may have been the first time the Light weren't in/directly responible for something. Not much to it really.
This gets a fifty/fifty mark for character eps; not as good as "Schooled", not as bad as "Happy Harbor", and "Happy Harbor" had a much better villain. Part of that I think is in how they set up whatever obsticle it is the particular character has to overcome. "Schooled" dealt directly with Superboy and his anger/parental issues, so we felt more from his struggle. His willingness to change shows development. Here, it's just dropped on us that Wally disbelieves in magic, and it's kinda made to be a big deal, given what they do for a living. Expect, minus this episode, it doesn't feel like it's going to amount to anything beyond these 22 minutes. It's a sitcom problem, here for the moment but forgotten by the next show. At best we got some minor setup for Wally and Artemis' eventual hook up, but that was such a forgone conclusion it comes off as a waste.
Going by the pattern, it's a mission ep next go-round, so I'm looking forward to that. More Artemis. Hopefully some new heroes as well as villains; they have a whole world to play with, I wanna see people besides those the League sanction.