Young Justice S1E08: Downtime
Mar. 12th, 2011 10:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ravensweptThe mission/character pattern is broken, it's centered on Aqualad (which is as exciting as it sounds), and really I'm not sure what really happens. Cameo by STARFISHLOVESYOU.
Episode Recap
We cold open to a Gotham backdrop, lot of high towers, lots darkness, and a little bit of a gothic building gargoyle to make sure you know this isn't Metropolis. Then we get a lovely estate view of some random ass warehouse. Do we know where this is? No, but cold opens are cold like that, catch up. Inside we watch as Aqualad skips across the floor to land hard against the wall. Who threw him, you ask? Well we get some gloopy sounds, an evil laugh, pan up to seeHOLY CRAP Clayface? Dude, they made him one creepy ass mo-fo, my god he looks like a shit(okay, I just figured out the pun in that)brickhouse of scary awesome! And he's gotta had stones, cause he also took out the rest of the team (minus Artemis, she's a no show) who are out for the count already.
Just before Clayface can start to tenderize Aqualad for some Atlantian sushi rolls, Batman drops in through the skylight (I gotta wonder if Gotham insurance companies add a "Drop-In Batman" clause on their policies, they always seem in danger of him) and electrocutes the Mudman into...well, goo. Which I wonder about, because if it was a shock to the system that could have taken Clayface down so easy, why didn't Aqualad do it himself? Segue jump, and we're back in the cave and ooh snap, Batman wants some one-on-one time with team leader, he's in trobuuuule (and Robin's all jealous that Aqualad gets the special talk-to and not him).
I want to say here, there's been some debate on whether or not the Clayface incident was a mission or a (holographic) training session; I'm splitting the difference and calling it a training mission, because a) Kid Flash wasn't in stealth costume, b) I don't think the cave has that good a holographic system, c) Batman wouldn't be watching their backs on a real mission, regardless that it was in his backyard, and d) the convienant times given say it was almost two hours later, so they definitely went somewhere. Also, holograms wouldn't leave mud.
Aqualad tries to defend a poor showing by the team, but Batman curb stops that quick and places the blame squarely on Sushi-boy. His head's in the clouds (or rather, in the sea) and he's not focusing at the task at hand. AL starts to defend himself, but falters quickly under the Bat-stare (tm) and admits he's been out of it (I'll get into that little no-show and tell later). He's been questioning whether he belongs on the surfice world, and whether it was smart to post that Little Mermaid Youtube video before leaving Atlantis. Batman, pimp that he is, quickly narrows it down to Aqualad thinking of a honey he left back home, pointing out that he could easily spend time under the sea and with the team, but if he's always thinking about a girl, then he's almost useless. Batman gives an ultimatium; figure your shit out, quick.
After the intro opener, we journey 20,000 leagues (get used to the water puns, I gotta make this interesting somehow) under the sea toAtlantis... Poseidonis? Oooo-kay. I guess it's a suburb? Moving on, Aqualad Stargates himself home, and is met by Aquaman; you'd think the king of, well, anywhere, would have something more important to do than wait around for his student (alone, royalty is never alone) but then again this is a king who plays superhero. We're also treated to some Atlantian language, which sounds... fake, but at least it does bear resemblance to an actual language. Aquaman is having a fancy dinner and wants AL there too, but AL's got some nookie on the mind first; Aquaking let's him bring a guest, and they split up.
Some filler swimming, seeing some underwater magic happen, and then for viewer ease we get a "translation spell" so that we aren't hearing Atlantian for the next 20 minutes. The spell really could've been anything, but it's a transition from language to language, mainly so the writer's (and voice actors) wouldn't have to delve too long into their made up words. Personally, I would'a liked more Atlantian, but understand for normal conventions of the audience.
It's also time for a FLAAAASH-BAAAACCK, via Chluthulu's purple nebish nephew, Topo (an actual comic character, kudos for continuity), who just completed a magic mural depicting how our stoic Aqualad came to be. In short, he and friend Garth (the original Aqualad of the Silver Age) helped in one of Aquaman's battles, impressing the king enough to offer them a chance to be hisgo-fer Aqua-bitch protege; Garth played it cool and stayed in school, while Kaldar (Aqualad's normal name, remember; I'm just gonna use that for this ep, since he's kinda off duty at the moment) took up the chance to be best buddies with royalty. Thus, Aqualad! Topo hopes to impress Kaldar, but his mind's elsewhere... namely on someone named Tula (oh, and Garth).
Both on the roof of the school, practicing Combat Magic with the queen. There's some small talk once Kaldar arrives, and the queen vacates herself to another class (man, Atlantian royalty is really one of the people) so we get stilted speech of from teens taught to be behave around the high classes; it's stilted, as I said, but it's also understandable, these kids are around royalty all the time, they have to obey some social protocals. Still, that they don't drop it even when alone says how long they've been like that.
Kaldar is happy to see his friends again, and while they're happy as well, they're also a bit weirded out, because he's been surfice side for two months now (do some math, and he hasn't been back to Atlantis (I'm not calling it that Poseidon pun) since finding Superboy... which makes me wonder where he stayed while up top). Trying to catch up, Kaldar invites Tula to dinner; she and Garth share a look, which Kal takes as wanting to go to and apoligizes that he could only invite one other. Tula agrees, but she and Garth have another class and swim off. Kaldar looks on, imagining he and Tula snuggily-wuggily; Garth tells Tula she needs to come clean to Kal. *insert audience "ooooooooh"*
And we're shown a random undersea building. Woo. Inside, a giant popcicle with what looks too be a starfish inside (hint hint, it's Starro, hint) is being studied by scientist types and Prince Orm, brother of Aquaman. They say the "creature" is still alive, despite being frozen for milleinia, and they detect brainwaves; so of course this means security needs to be tight so no one will come after this giant icecube.
Back at Mt. Justice (TOO SUBTLE), Superboy watches... static... on television while Megan starts to get her dinner on. Superboy goes to help; sorta, he says "no" when asked if he wants to help but goes anyway. You can take the anger out of the boy, but not the contradictory out of the teen. But Megan's still happy her crush is apparently helping her, and she starts levitating all the ingrediants around, forgetting herself and generally just threw a lot of food all over Superboy (bet she'd like to bake and eat him, roaw!). She starts to clean him up, throwing out her "Hello Megan" line again (first time I haven't hated it) as she slowly realizes she's very, very close to Superboy and they are all alone. Superboy... hasn't changed his expression at all.
But PSYCH they aren't alone, as resident moment-ruiner Red Tornado noisely walks his way in. There he finds the perfectly normal scene of Megan robotically (dude, not funny, he's sensitive about those kind of jokes) cutting an onion, while Superboy is back on the couch watching prime-time static; but still covered in eggs and milk. Red Tornado just looks at them both and walks out, and you can clearly hear in his head, "I so don't want to know".
Back at the palace- no wait, just somewhere around the palace, some drill thingie breaks through the ground. I give credit to the guards, they are all over it like scales on a fish, but are quickly beaten by faceless guys in black robotic-like diving outfits. One guard still has some spunk in him, which is quickly squashed by the big bad of this episode, Black Manta, who speaks with a faux-Vader-esque voice behind his helmet. It's not just them, there are five other squads placed around the Atlantian city. They begin phase two (right after this commercial break), placeing explosive charges (called "manta stings" (trademark your shit!)) seemingly all over the city; I say seemingly, because we see one being placed and primed, and then suddenly phase two is over.
Aaand we're in Gotham now. Guess we're gonna pop in on all the others (the episode is called "downtime" after all), and this vignette we see Robin (aka, Dick Grayson (yes, it is Dick people, not Tim Drake!) for once without a mask or sunglasses or anything hiding his eyes, practicing on some gymnastic rings. Apparently he's still pissy about Batman wanting to speak only to Aqualad earlier, and it's throwing off his balance. He lands, stumbles, falls against a wall and then punches a dent into the wall. Wow, he must really eat his Wheaties, that didn't sound like drywall there. And watching him over camera isHOLY CRAP BRUCE WAYNE IS BAT-waitaminute, I already knew that. Still, liiiiiitle creepy there Bruce. Alfred, you ain't looking too hot yourself there, two grown men watching a sweaty young boy over hidden camera.
Alfred pops in on Dick, annoucing that Bruce wants to see him (way to play it cool there Alfie). Outside, Bruce surprises him with a basketball; more training, "hand-eye coordination", one on one. Awwwww, it's a happy family moment. Aaand Alfred is back to creepy with a smile on his face as he watches from the doorway.
At dinner, Prince Orm nerds it up, bragging about his giant starfish (wow, didn't think that's sound so wrong) and yada yada, the teens don't care, so they start their own conversation, with the queen listening in; guess she's just as bored with the Prince as they were. Kaldar "whispers" (badly) to Tula he's thinking about coming back to school (lazy drop out), who doesn't look exactly enthused about that. The queen is quick to point out that he dropped out, the drop out, and he hasn't kept pace with his studies; he'd be held back, and not be in Tula's class (or Garth's) (and all that that implies). Kaldar thinks on this, then slyly suggest needing a "tutor", because we all know what kind of studying he wants to do; French class. Tula stuffs her face rather than respond, and looks downcast about having to finally mention she's a taken woman.
Central City; guess it's Wally's turn at home. It's someone one's birthday and hey! we get to see the current Flash out of costume (Barry Allen, fyi) and an oldie speedster, Jay Garrick (the Golden Age Flash with the silver pan on his head). Not much here, some idle talk, some name dropping for the fans, we find out it's Jay's birthday, and finally Wally's jerkdom extends even to family, where just after finishing dinner he's also finished off all the icecream (and it wasn't a small container either). Happy birthday indeed.
But enough of that, things are happening under the sea (and now that earworm is in your head!). The queen is knocked up!Everyone All three other people there are happy, Tula most of all because now she can avoid talking to Kaldar longer, because now they finally have an heir to the throne at lassssoooh sorry bout that Orm. Guess you want to get mad about not being next in line and plot the takeover of your brother's kingdom oh really, you're cool with it? Seriously? Well, okay then, props for maturity. The King and Queen make smoochy smooch, Kaldar looking like he wants the same from Tula (this is gonna hurt, eventually), before Aquaman is called off for a League mission. He swims off, as does Kaldar. On the way to the transporter, Aquaman says that Bats blabbed about Kaldar love troubles, that he knows what that's like and that he knows Kaldar will do the right thing.
While evil mooks stay in the shadows, Kaldar and Tula finally have a quiet moment together. Kaldar lays his heart out there, saying he's choosing to stay in Atlantis because of Tula. She, in turn, crushes that like a bug, telling him that she and Garth are an item already. Before any real emotion can happen, EXPLOSIONS All around them, every major gathering of buildings starts to burst into rubble, causing lots of damage everywhere. While guards start to help civilians, the mooks start blasting at them. Tula and Kaldar swim in and start fighting.
Elsewhere, a larger squad goes to attack the palace. The queen ain't some little homebody, and does most of the heavy lifting against them, erecting a large manta shield to protect those that are still standing; which is her and Orm at this point. Kaldar and Tula swim in to help with the still large squadron, Tula using her fancy water combat magic and Kaldar using a wider array of weapons compared to normal (whips and long range weapons, vs his normal short swords and maces). Garth swims in, late, and doesn't see the one mook who managed to get behind everyone. Tula swims out and takes the blast meant for him, taking her out of the fight; I will now take this time to question who an energy weapon is fired under water, especially one that seems to manage an electric shock when it hits its target. Maybe she just got sick of it, but Queen Mera basically says "oh, it is so on now" and levels up, just now glowing up her magic tattoos that appear when anyone else uses magic of any kind; and I have to admit, her octopus tats are pretty sweet.
While the queen takes out some early pregnancy rage, notes are compared. Orm; communication is down, so the King can't be reached. Garth; sectors (the city is divided into sectors) "everywhich one except the one with the plot device" is down. Kaldar goes to see why the giant star-ice-fish is so important, Orm having to stay to help protect the queen ("I need no protection!" and I'm libel to agree with that) while Kaldar not-so-passively-but-pretty-aggressively tells Garth his place is with Tula.
Now for a quieter moment. Back in Gotham, we see Artemis at home; huh, she does live in Gotham. Anyhow, she's checking/making more arrows, when her mother rolls in (literally, she's in a wheelchair) with "good news". Artemis has been awarded a full (Wayne Foundation) scholarship to the Gotham Academy... which she never even applied for or to. She wants to pass, saying her friends are at the school she's already at, while her mom wants her to go. I say wants, really she threatens to stop letting Artemis do the superhero thing, but it's an empty threat seeing as she can't really stop her. Doing the mom thing however, she lays on some silent guilt, wanting Artemis to be able to better her life, something she never had the opportunity to do. Artemis agrees, to make her mom happy; they hug it out, though Artemis still looks very unsure.
Back at the abyss, Black Manta and friends have finally gotten into the science lab with the not-Starro cube, and prepare to melt through the skylight dome above. Kaldar just opens a side door when Garth shows up, saying the Queen sent him to help. You can practically see the hackles raise on Kaldar, but he just turns and they enter. BM waits for the dome to melt... must be pretty thick, it's taking a good while.
Kaldar and Garth swim down a hallway, Garth wanting to know the plan, when Kal pulls a Robin and just disappears. Some mooks show up, who Kaldar then quickly takes out; he's still been studying, just a different kind (burn?).
In the main lab, mooks are still getting things ready. Black Manta notices two mooks enter, one wearing Kaldar's totem handles. Way to blend in there Kal. BM outs them, small fight, and Manta makes his own fish reference ("schools of other" ha, because fish, in groups, ha-ha, eh) and tries to take out Garth. Kaldar water whips him (hey, how does that work underwater, are his weapons more dense than the water around it, or do they have a barrier, I'm probably thinking to hard on this, lasers after all) to safety, and repeats what Batman told him at the beginning of the episode; get his head in the game. To be fair to Garth, he was just trying to get his helmet off at the time, it's not like he wasn't totally not paying attention. Garth then uses the only verbal spell so far, which is mainly just a reason to name drop Tempest, which is the name Garth later takes in the comics.
The dome is finally melted through (strange, doesn't look that thick), and the mooks hook up the ice block and start to lift it while Garth and Kaldar are occupied. Garth manages to break the connection, and the frozen fish stick falls rather hard considering it's not that high up and it's under water (I should really stop applying RL phyics to cartoons) shattering the ice and exposing a fishy limb. Which twitches (creeeepie). Black Manta is pissed now, because he can't kidnap a non-frozen starfish destroyer of worlds, so he pulls an abusive husband act and blows up the prize rather than let anyone else have it (that's only a half joke, he really does shout that out). While Garth protects Kaldar from the explosion (ice shield spell), BM gets away.
About a week later, King Aquaman monologs to everyone present who was actually at the fight what happened; stuff got blowed up good, people were hurt, but at least his wifedidn't crack a nail or split a hair or the baby wasn't hurt. Orm presents the only remaining piece of our dearly beloved lost Starrofish creature, which looks like a piece of sushi without the rice. And lucky us, it's already regenerating. While it still needs to be studied, Atlantis isn't exactly equipped or secure for that anymore, so they suggest that the surface world might be able to handle it (as long as it's not STAR Labs, they don't have the best track record); this is actually a fairly big deal, as in most itirations of the comics or cartoons, Atlantis is usually fairly hostile to the surface world, and would never actively suggest they can't handle things themselves. It really is a new world. Aquaman turns to Kaldar, who proclaims to be called Aqualad, ie, he's not staying under the sea, where life is the bubbles, under the sea.
The three teens say their ackward goodbyes, Kaldar saying he wishes them the best together. Before fully entering the teleporter, he asks Garth if he ever thinks about if they'd chosen differently; Garth says hell no. Kaldar says the same (LIAR) and leaves, reentering the cave, where Batman already is. Aqualad says he's here, all the way. Batman couldn't give a crap, but says "good" anyway, and starts immediately briefing the team on it's next mission.
Aboard the Manta-Sub, BM speaks to the Light (them again) saying he had to go to Plan B with the starfish after not being able to kidnap an icecube. The Light, or the one speaker anyway, doesn't seem to see it as a big loss, just that everything falls into place.
Kid Flash Souvnir: None, no mission or team fight
Character Analysis
Wow, an episode where a lot actually happened (in spite of a lot not actually happening).
Robin: Least we forget, is still only thirteen. He sees Batman as "his", so his jealousy at Aqualad is kinda cute in it's own way. He's not about to openly question Batman, but he also doesn't take it very quietly. And it was cool to see Bruce act like the father figure he is to Dick, playing a game of basketball, even if he said it was training, because guys don't hug. Also a nice nod to Bruce that he does care about the boy outside of the costume, a nod to his and Clark's talk back in "Schooled".
Kid Flash: Aside of expanding his family relations, had the least amount to offer to characterization. He's still a selfish asshat, who eats all the ice cream at a birthday party. He'd probably do the same thing at a kid's party too.
Aqualad: Well, we learn a lot. Aqualad hasn't been waterside since finding Superboy. How he came to be Aqualad over Garth. And mainly that Aqualad has a lot of problems emoting. Everything with him is kept very, very subtle. As I said above, it makes sense, he's been raised around royalty, and once becoming Aqualad was directly connected to the King himself at almost all times. So that's a lot of pressure on how to act. But still, I'd hoped for more from him when it came time for his character episode, and I'm still left wanting.
Superboy: Another one with emoting problems, but again, it's understandable. He hasn't a lot of practice with emotions, being only 6 months old at this point. But he apparently is deeply facinated by TV-snow; guess learning to use a remote is too difficult? He and Megan share a moment, but it's kind of a weird one, as his face doesn't change, he doesn't show any softness. Still, SuperMartian moment.
Miss Martian: Aw, look at her be all clumsy and dotting on Superboy after trying to make him into her own personal Superpancake. I hope she gets another character ep soon, I kinda like seeing her out of uniform, she's sweeter and more, well, human. And seeing her go all silent while so close to Superboy is some of the better writing/animation they have, I like this relationship so far, being played very nicely.
Artemis: We have a full name, Artemis (hey, it is her real name) Crock; *to DC Wiki* which tells me she is, comic wise, some baddie from the 80's named Tigress. I'm underwhelmed. Also, apparently she's half-Vietnamese, which I guess would explain her connection to Cheshire from "Infiltrator" somewhat. Still, that aside, it's interesting to see where she's from; seemingly a lower class level of Gotham, with her wheelchair bound mother, who knows what Artemis does at nights. And loves her mommy, willing to make her happy even if she exactly isn't.
Villian(s): Black Manta. This guy has a history of being Aquaman's biggest enemy, and also being pretty lame at it (which figures, Aquaman isn't known for being exactly the most exhalted superhero himself). Here, they do pretty well. The helmet isn't overdone or ackward looking, and he commands pretty authoritively. Lots of mooks, and plenty of manta-named equipment. Not exactly the most exciting of the lot, but he does a decent job.
Episode Analysis
Well, my episode pattern is broken; for how long I don't know, but it's no longer just a character-mission cycle. Overall, I'd have to say the parts equalled more than the sum of the whole here. The individual elements with the rest of the team where good shots at their lives and expanded on what we've already seen, but Aqualad is not a good focus for an episode. He just doesn't have enough excitment to him, he or his extended cast, to make for a very interesting adventure overall.
That said, there's a lot to pick out about Aqualad from his visit home. He's not a native to Atlantis; or at least not full blooded. He's the only one to have his tattoo's visible at all times, only glowing when he uses his powers; everyone else who used magic look normal until powering up. Also, he's the only one with gills. Being the only black kid in the city bears a mention as well. We learned how the water hero came to be, if in a rather cheapish storytelling way.
I wouldn't put this as low on the list as "Happy Harbor" in terms of episode quality, seeing as what given with the others was better, but it's not high up there either. What the Light were gonna do with a sentient millienia old starfish, I don't know, it seems a little odd they'd go after it. I'm kinda wondering about how they even knew it was there, Atlantis isn't exactly just a place you can peek into, which makes me question how not-evil Prince Orm really is. Someone had to've given it away, and his comic history says he's the most likely canidate. Sorry buddy, history is against you.
Final Thoughts
While I now know more about Aqualad, I can't say I'm whelmed by it. The non-existant love story was just so underwritten, and then steamrolled by the action to have any effect on the audience. Seriously, he was supposedly in love with Tula, and maybe her with him, and while I again mention their somewhat royal upbringing, dude show some emotion for the girl! I like he's more subtle than Kid Flash about the women he likes (hell, Pepe Le'Pew was more subtle) but he was bordering on boring. Show some goddamn emotion, stop being so closed off!
The rest was better, Batman's not as serious a guy as he's been shown in other media before, more expansion on the Miss M/Superboy love story, and we now know who Artemis really is; sorta, who she is and how that relates to actual in universe stories are two different things. I still think they overplayed her traitorness-ness, but knowing she was a badguy in the regular comics doesn't bare well for her future overall.
Episode Recap
We cold open to a Gotham backdrop, lot of high towers, lots darkness, and a little bit of a gothic building gargoyle to make sure you know this isn't Metropolis. Then we get a lovely estate view of some random ass warehouse. Do we know where this is? No, but cold opens are cold like that, catch up. Inside we watch as Aqualad skips across the floor to land hard against the wall. Who threw him, you ask? Well we get some gloopy sounds, an evil laugh, pan up to seeHOLY CRAP Clayface? Dude, they made him one creepy ass mo-fo, my god he looks like a shit(okay, I just figured out the pun in that)brickhouse of scary awesome! And he's gotta had stones, cause he also took out the rest of the team (minus Artemis, she's a no show) who are out for the count already.
Just before Clayface can start to tenderize Aqualad for some Atlantian sushi rolls, Batman drops in through the skylight (I gotta wonder if Gotham insurance companies add a "Drop-In Batman" clause on their policies, they always seem in danger of him) and electrocutes the Mudman into...well, goo. Which I wonder about, because if it was a shock to the system that could have taken Clayface down so easy, why didn't Aqualad do it himself? Segue jump, and we're back in the cave and ooh snap, Batman wants some one-on-one time with team leader, he's in trobuuuule (and Robin's all jealous that Aqualad gets the special talk-to and not him).
I want to say here, there's been some debate on whether or not the Clayface incident was a mission or a (holographic) training session; I'm splitting the difference and calling it a training mission, because a) Kid Flash wasn't in stealth costume, b) I don't think the cave has that good a holographic system, c) Batman wouldn't be watching their backs on a real mission, regardless that it was in his backyard, and d) the convienant times given say it was almost two hours later, so they definitely went somewhere. Also, holograms wouldn't leave mud.
Aqualad tries to defend a poor showing by the team, but Batman curb stops that quick and places the blame squarely on Sushi-boy. His head's in the clouds (or rather, in the sea) and he's not focusing at the task at hand. AL starts to defend himself, but falters quickly under the Bat-stare (tm) and admits he's been out of it (I'll get into that little no-show and tell later). He's been questioning whether he belongs on the surfice world, and whether it was smart to post that Little Mermaid Youtube video before leaving Atlantis. Batman, pimp that he is, quickly narrows it down to Aqualad thinking of a honey he left back home, pointing out that he could easily spend time under the sea and with the team, but if he's always thinking about a girl, then he's almost useless. Batman gives an ultimatium; figure your shit out, quick.
After the intro opener, we journey 20,000 leagues (get used to the water puns, I gotta make this interesting somehow) under the sea to
Some filler swimming, seeing some underwater magic happen, and then for viewer ease we get a "translation spell" so that we aren't hearing Atlantian for the next 20 minutes. The spell really could've been anything, but it's a transition from language to language, mainly so the writer's (and voice actors) wouldn't have to delve too long into their made up words. Personally, I would'a liked more Atlantian, but understand for normal conventions of the audience.
It's also time for a FLAAAASH-BAAAACCK, via Chluthulu's purple nebish nephew, Topo (an actual comic character, kudos for continuity), who just completed a magic mural depicting how our stoic Aqualad came to be. In short, he and friend Garth (the original Aqualad of the Silver Age) helped in one of Aquaman's battles, impressing the king enough to offer them a chance to be his
Both on the roof of the school, practicing Combat Magic with the queen. There's some small talk once Kaldar arrives, and the queen vacates herself to another class (man, Atlantian royalty is really one of the people) so we get stilted speech of from teens taught to be behave around the high classes; it's stilted, as I said, but it's also understandable, these kids are around royalty all the time, they have to obey some social protocals. Still, that they don't drop it even when alone says how long they've been like that.
Kaldar is happy to see his friends again, and while they're happy as well, they're also a bit weirded out, because he's been surfice side for two months now (do some math, and he hasn't been back to Atlantis (I'm not calling it that Poseidon pun) since finding Superboy... which makes me wonder where he stayed while up top). Trying to catch up, Kaldar invites Tula to dinner; she and Garth share a look, which Kal takes as wanting to go to and apoligizes that he could only invite one other. Tula agrees, but she and Garth have another class and swim off. Kaldar looks on, imagining he and Tula snuggily-wuggily; Garth tells Tula she needs to come clean to Kal. *insert audience "ooooooooh"*
And we're shown a random undersea building. Woo. Inside, a giant popcicle with what looks too be a starfish inside (hint hint, it's Starro, hint) is being studied by scientist types and Prince Orm, brother of Aquaman. They say the "creature" is still alive, despite being frozen for milleinia, and they detect brainwaves; so of course this means security needs to be tight so no one will come after this giant icecube.
Back at Mt. Justice (TOO SUBTLE), Superboy watches... static... on television while Megan starts to get her dinner on. Superboy goes to help; sorta, he says "no" when asked if he wants to help but goes anyway. You can take the anger out of the boy, but not the contradictory out of the teen. But Megan's still happy her crush is apparently helping her, and she starts levitating all the ingrediants around, forgetting herself and generally just threw a lot of food all over Superboy (bet she'd like to bake and eat him, roaw!). She starts to clean him up, throwing out her "Hello Megan" line again (first time I haven't hated it) as she slowly realizes she's very, very close to Superboy and they are all alone. Superboy... hasn't changed his expression at all.
But PSYCH they aren't alone, as resident moment-ruiner Red Tornado noisely walks his way in. There he finds the perfectly normal scene of Megan robotically (dude, not funny, he's sensitive about those kind of jokes) cutting an onion, while Superboy is back on the couch watching prime-time static; but still covered in eggs and milk. Red Tornado just looks at them both and walks out, and you can clearly hear in his head, "I so don't want to know".
Back at the palace- no wait, just somewhere around the palace, some drill thingie breaks through the ground. I give credit to the guards, they are all over it like scales on a fish, but are quickly beaten by faceless guys in black robotic-like diving outfits. One guard still has some spunk in him, which is quickly squashed by the big bad of this episode, Black Manta, who speaks with a faux-Vader-esque voice behind his helmet. It's not just them, there are five other squads placed around the Atlantian city. They begin phase two (right after this commercial break), placeing explosive charges (called "manta stings" (trademark your shit!)) seemingly all over the city; I say seemingly, because we see one being placed and primed, and then suddenly phase two is over.
Aaand we're in Gotham now. Guess we're gonna pop in on all the others (the episode is called "downtime" after all), and this vignette we see Robin (aka, Dick Grayson (yes, it is Dick people, not Tim Drake!) for once without a mask or sunglasses or anything hiding his eyes, practicing on some gymnastic rings. Apparently he's still pissy about Batman wanting to speak only to Aqualad earlier, and it's throwing off his balance. He lands, stumbles, falls against a wall and then punches a dent into the wall. Wow, he must really eat his Wheaties, that didn't sound like drywall there. And watching him over camera isHOLY CRAP BRUCE WAYNE IS BAT-waitaminute, I already knew that. Still, liiiiiitle creepy there Bruce. Alfred, you ain't looking too hot yourself there, two grown men watching a sweaty young boy over hidden camera.
Alfred pops in on Dick, annoucing that Bruce wants to see him (way to play it cool there Alfie). Outside, Bruce surprises him with a basketball; more training, "hand-eye coordination", one on one. Awwwww, it's a happy family moment. Aaand Alfred is back to creepy with a smile on his face as he watches from the doorway.
At dinner, Prince Orm nerds it up, bragging about his giant starfish (wow, didn't think that's sound so wrong) and yada yada, the teens don't care, so they start their own conversation, with the queen listening in; guess she's just as bored with the Prince as they were. Kaldar "whispers" (badly) to Tula he's thinking about coming back to school (lazy drop out), who doesn't look exactly enthused about that. The queen is quick to point out that he dropped out, the drop out, and he hasn't kept pace with his studies; he'd be held back, and not be in Tula's class (or Garth's) (and all that that implies). Kaldar thinks on this, then slyly suggest needing a "tutor", because we all know what kind of studying he wants to do; French class. Tula stuffs her face rather than respond, and looks downcast about having to finally mention she's a taken woman.
Central City; guess it's Wally's turn at home. It's someone one's birthday and hey! we get to see the current Flash out of costume (Barry Allen, fyi) and an oldie speedster, Jay Garrick (the Golden Age Flash with the silver pan on his head). Not much here, some idle talk, some name dropping for the fans, we find out it's Jay's birthday, and finally Wally's jerkdom extends even to family, where just after finishing dinner he's also finished off all the icecream (and it wasn't a small container either). Happy birthday indeed.
But enough of that, things are happening under the sea (and now that earworm is in your head!). The queen is knocked up!
While evil mooks stay in the shadows, Kaldar and Tula finally have a quiet moment together. Kaldar lays his heart out there, saying he's choosing to stay in Atlantis because of Tula. She, in turn, crushes that like a bug, telling him that she and Garth are an item already. Before any real emotion can happen, EXPLOSIONS All around them, every major gathering of buildings starts to burst into rubble, causing lots of damage everywhere. While guards start to help civilians, the mooks start blasting at them. Tula and Kaldar swim in and start fighting.
Elsewhere, a larger squad goes to attack the palace. The queen ain't some little homebody, and does most of the heavy lifting against them, erecting a large manta shield to protect those that are still standing; which is her and Orm at this point. Kaldar and Tula swim in to help with the still large squadron, Tula using her fancy water combat magic and Kaldar using a wider array of weapons compared to normal (whips and long range weapons, vs his normal short swords and maces). Garth swims in, late, and doesn't see the one mook who managed to get behind everyone. Tula swims out and takes the blast meant for him, taking her out of the fight; I will now take this time to question who an energy weapon is fired under water, especially one that seems to manage an electric shock when it hits its target. Maybe she just got sick of it, but Queen Mera basically says "oh, it is so on now" and levels up, just now glowing up her magic tattoos that appear when anyone else uses magic of any kind; and I have to admit, her octopus tats are pretty sweet.
While the queen takes out some early pregnancy rage, notes are compared. Orm; communication is down, so the King can't be reached. Garth; sectors (the city is divided into sectors) "everywhich one except the one with the plot device" is down. Kaldar goes to see why the giant star-ice-fish is so important, Orm having to stay to help protect the queen ("I need no protection!" and I'm libel to agree with that) while Kaldar not-so-passively-but-pretty-aggressively tells Garth his place is with Tula.
Now for a quieter moment. Back in Gotham, we see Artemis at home; huh, she does live in Gotham. Anyhow, she's checking/making more arrows, when her mother rolls in (literally, she's in a wheelchair) with "good news". Artemis has been awarded a full (Wayne Foundation) scholarship to the Gotham Academy... which she never even applied for or to. She wants to pass, saying her friends are at the school she's already at, while her mom wants her to go. I say wants, really she threatens to stop letting Artemis do the superhero thing, but it's an empty threat seeing as she can't really stop her. Doing the mom thing however, she lays on some silent guilt, wanting Artemis to be able to better her life, something she never had the opportunity to do. Artemis agrees, to make her mom happy; they hug it out, though Artemis still looks very unsure.
Back at the abyss, Black Manta and friends have finally gotten into the science lab with the not-Starro cube, and prepare to melt through the skylight dome above. Kaldar just opens a side door when Garth shows up, saying the Queen sent him to help. You can practically see the hackles raise on Kaldar, but he just turns and they enter. BM waits for the dome to melt... must be pretty thick, it's taking a good while.
Kaldar and Garth swim down a hallway, Garth wanting to know the plan, when Kal pulls a Robin and just disappears. Some mooks show up, who Kaldar then quickly takes out; he's still been studying, just a different kind (burn?).
In the main lab, mooks are still getting things ready. Black Manta notices two mooks enter, one wearing Kaldar's totem handles. Way to blend in there Kal. BM outs them, small fight, and Manta makes his own fish reference ("schools of other" ha, because fish, in groups, ha-ha, eh) and tries to take out Garth. Kaldar water whips him (hey, how does that work underwater, are his weapons more dense than the water around it, or do they have a barrier, I'm probably thinking to hard on this, lasers after all) to safety, and repeats what Batman told him at the beginning of the episode; get his head in the game. To be fair to Garth, he was just trying to get his helmet off at the time, it's not like he wasn't totally not paying attention. Garth then uses the only verbal spell so far, which is mainly just a reason to name drop Tempest, which is the name Garth later takes in the comics.
The dome is finally melted through (strange, doesn't look that thick), and the mooks hook up the ice block and start to lift it while Garth and Kaldar are occupied. Garth manages to break the connection, and the frozen fish stick falls rather hard considering it's not that high up and it's under water (I should really stop applying RL phyics to cartoons) shattering the ice and exposing a fishy limb. Which twitches (creeeepie). Black Manta is pissed now, because he can't kidnap a non-frozen starfish destroyer of worlds, so he pulls an abusive husband act and blows up the prize rather than let anyone else have it (that's only a half joke, he really does shout that out). While Garth protects Kaldar from the explosion (ice shield spell), BM gets away.
About a week later, King Aquaman monologs to everyone present who was actually at the fight what happened; stuff got blowed up good, people were hurt, but at least his wife
The three teens say their ackward goodbyes, Kaldar saying he wishes them the best together. Before fully entering the teleporter, he asks Garth if he ever thinks about if they'd chosen differently; Garth says hell no. Kaldar says the same (LIAR) and leaves, reentering the cave, where Batman already is. Aqualad says he's here, all the way. Batman couldn't give a crap, but says "good" anyway, and starts immediately briefing the team on it's next mission.
Aboard the Manta-Sub, BM speaks to the Light (them again) saying he had to go to Plan B with the starfish after not being able to kidnap an icecube. The Light, or the one speaker anyway, doesn't seem to see it as a big loss, just that everything falls into place.
Kid Flash Souvnir: None, no mission or team fight
Character Analysis
Wow, an episode where a lot actually happened (in spite of a lot not actually happening).
Robin: Least we forget, is still only thirteen. He sees Batman as "his", so his jealousy at Aqualad is kinda cute in it's own way. He's not about to openly question Batman, but he also doesn't take it very quietly. And it was cool to see Bruce act like the father figure he is to Dick, playing a game of basketball, even if he said it was training, because guys don't hug. Also a nice nod to Bruce that he does care about the boy outside of the costume, a nod to his and Clark's talk back in "Schooled".
Kid Flash: Aside of expanding his family relations, had the least amount to offer to characterization. He's still a selfish asshat, who eats all the ice cream at a birthday party. He'd probably do the same thing at a kid's party too.
Aqualad: Well, we learn a lot. Aqualad hasn't been waterside since finding Superboy. How he came to be Aqualad over Garth. And mainly that Aqualad has a lot of problems emoting. Everything with him is kept very, very subtle. As I said above, it makes sense, he's been raised around royalty, and once becoming Aqualad was directly connected to the King himself at almost all times. So that's a lot of pressure on how to act. But still, I'd hoped for more from him when it came time for his character episode, and I'm still left wanting.
Superboy: Another one with emoting problems, but again, it's understandable. He hasn't a lot of practice with emotions, being only 6 months old at this point. But he apparently is deeply facinated by TV-snow; guess learning to use a remote is too difficult? He and Megan share a moment, but it's kind of a weird one, as his face doesn't change, he doesn't show any softness. Still, SuperMartian moment.
Miss Martian: Aw, look at her be all clumsy and dotting on Superboy after trying to make him into her own personal Superpancake. I hope she gets another character ep soon, I kinda like seeing her out of uniform, she's sweeter and more, well, human. And seeing her go all silent while so close to Superboy is some of the better writing/animation they have, I like this relationship so far, being played very nicely.
Artemis: We have a full name, Artemis (hey, it is her real name) Crock; *to DC Wiki* which tells me she is, comic wise, some baddie from the 80's named Tigress. I'm underwhelmed. Also, apparently she's half-Vietnamese, which I guess would explain her connection to Cheshire from "Infiltrator" somewhat. Still, that aside, it's interesting to see where she's from; seemingly a lower class level of Gotham, with her wheelchair bound mother, who knows what Artemis does at nights. And loves her mommy, willing to make her happy even if she exactly isn't.
Villian(s): Black Manta. This guy has a history of being Aquaman's biggest enemy, and also being pretty lame at it (which figures, Aquaman isn't known for being exactly the most exhalted superhero himself). Here, they do pretty well. The helmet isn't overdone or ackward looking, and he commands pretty authoritively. Lots of mooks, and plenty of manta-named equipment. Not exactly the most exciting of the lot, but he does a decent job.
Episode Analysis
Well, my episode pattern is broken; for how long I don't know, but it's no longer just a character-mission cycle. Overall, I'd have to say the parts equalled more than the sum of the whole here. The individual elements with the rest of the team where good shots at their lives and expanded on what we've already seen, but Aqualad is not a good focus for an episode. He just doesn't have enough excitment to him, he or his extended cast, to make for a very interesting adventure overall.
That said, there's a lot to pick out about Aqualad from his visit home. He's not a native to Atlantis; or at least not full blooded. He's the only one to have his tattoo's visible at all times, only glowing when he uses his powers; everyone else who used magic look normal until powering up. Also, he's the only one with gills. Being the only black kid in the city bears a mention as well. We learned how the water hero came to be, if in a rather cheapish storytelling way.
I wouldn't put this as low on the list as "Happy Harbor" in terms of episode quality, seeing as what given with the others was better, but it's not high up there either. What the Light were gonna do with a sentient millienia old starfish, I don't know, it seems a little odd they'd go after it. I'm kinda wondering about how they even knew it was there, Atlantis isn't exactly just a place you can peek into, which makes me question how not-evil Prince Orm really is. Someone had to've given it away, and his comic history says he's the most likely canidate. Sorry buddy, history is against you.
Final Thoughts
While I now know more about Aqualad, I can't say I'm whelmed by it. The non-existant love story was just so underwritten, and then steamrolled by the action to have any effect on the audience. Seriously, he was supposedly in love with Tula, and maybe her with him, and while I again mention their somewhat royal upbringing, dude show some emotion for the girl! I like he's more subtle than Kid Flash about the women he likes (hell, Pepe Le'Pew was more subtle) but he was bordering on boring. Show some goddamn emotion, stop being so closed off!
The rest was better, Batman's not as serious a guy as he's been shown in other media before, more expansion on the Miss M/Superboy love story, and we now know who Artemis really is; sorta, who she is and how that relates to actual in universe stories are two different things. I still think they overplayed her traitorness-ness, but knowing she was a badguy in the regular comics doesn't bare well for her future overall.