[7.7/10] This one didn’t do much for me at first. The whole ghost angle seemed pretty weird, and the whole school gushing over who this mysterious poltergeist is or was felt kind of out of left field. The mystery didn’t seem particularly interesting to me, and the whole “are ghosts real?” thing felt a little facile since, as Bruce himself admits, the DCAU has had plenty of weirder stuff take place. (Though I like the hint that he views this mystery as “so high school.”)
But I actually loved the reveal that it was Wally Watts, the kid from “Golem”, who’s responsible for all of the haunting mishegoss at the school. I’d remembered his run-ins with the jock, but for some reason I thought that the girl from Golem was Chelsea, not Blade, so I totally did not put two and two together in terms of his targets. At the same time I’d read “Golem” as simply indicating that Wally had the power to control electronics and the like, not telekinesis in general, so I wouldn't have suspected him as being responsible for hovering ouija boards or unruly fire extinguishers.
Even if this one requires a bit of a stretch in places (was Wally sneaking out of juvie or just doing this all from afar?), I like this as a follow-up to Golem and a way for Wally to try to get his revenge. Seeing Wally having gotten buff in prison, tried to feel powerful, and using the “ghost” thing to set the stage with his old enemies is a good bit.
I particularly like his conversation with Terry and the ensuing sting. It’s another time where Terry’s showing off some detective skills, figuring out the connection between Wally’s targets and getting Wally to confess. (Though there’s probably less self-risking methods he could have used.)
The ensuing showdown is a cool scene. There’s something legitimately scary about Wally commandeering Nelson’s car and trying to drive it into the school. There’s something even more creepy about Wally using his telekinetic powers to try to make Blade kiss him. And there’s a real threat to Batman when he tries to tranquilize Wally, only to be tossed around by his mind-over-matter foe. (There’s apparently been a lot of that going around in Batman’s world lately.)
Granted, it’s not exactly clear to me how or why Wally goes down afterwards. I know he unleashed a kinetic storm of some kind, but is it just out of his control? It’s not entirely clear, and him getting whacked with a tree is a fairly lame way for him to be defeated. STill, there’s some tragedy to Wally’s loneliness continuing, and only getting worse when we see him last in his anti-telekinesis helmet. There’s still a good Carrie-esque tragedy to his bearing that helps a lot of this work.
I even like the somewhat sappy side line about the “existence of ghosts” question mattering because Li’l Matt thinks it’s a way to talk to their deceased father again. It’s a nice way to bring some of this down to earth, balancing the silly haunting stuff with how it muddies the waters for folks too young to understand. Terry’s closing statement to his little brother about how they can remember their dad and keep him alive that way is trite, but still quite sweet.
Overall, this one takes a while to get going, but once it brings Wally back into the fold, it improves considerably. I hope this isn’t the last time we deal with his pathos-ridden antagonism.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-05-22T21:28:46Z
[7.7/10] This one didn’t do much for me at first. The whole ghost angle seemed pretty weird, and the whole school gushing over who this mysterious poltergeist is or was felt kind of out of left field. The mystery didn’t seem particularly interesting to me, and the whole “are ghosts real?” thing felt a little facile since, as Bruce himself admits, the DCAU has had plenty of weirder stuff take place. (Though I like the hint that he views this mystery as “so high school.”)
But I actually loved the reveal that it was Wally Watts, the kid from “Golem”, who’s responsible for all of the haunting mishegoss at the school. I’d remembered his run-ins with the jock, but for some reason I thought that the girl from Golem was Chelsea, not Blade, so I totally did not put two and two together in terms of his targets. At the same time I’d read “Golem” as simply indicating that Wally had the power to control electronics and the like, not telekinesis in general, so I wouldn't have suspected him as being responsible for hovering ouija boards or unruly fire extinguishers.
Even if this one requires a bit of a stretch in places (was Wally sneaking out of juvie or just doing this all from afar?), I like this as a follow-up to Golem and a way for Wally to try to get his revenge. Seeing Wally having gotten buff in prison, tried to feel powerful, and using the “ghost” thing to set the stage with his old enemies is a good bit.
I particularly like his conversation with Terry and the ensuing sting. It’s another time where Terry’s showing off some detective skills, figuring out the connection between Wally’s targets and getting Wally to confess. (Though there’s probably less self-risking methods he could have used.)
The ensuing showdown is a cool scene. There’s something legitimately scary about Wally commandeering Nelson’s car and trying to drive it into the school. There’s something even more creepy about Wally using his telekinetic powers to try to make Blade kiss him. And there’s a real threat to Batman when he tries to tranquilize Wally, only to be tossed around by his mind-over-matter foe. (There’s apparently been a lot of that going around in Batman’s world lately.)
Granted, it’s not exactly clear to me how or why Wally goes down afterwards. I know he unleashed a kinetic storm of some kind, but is it just out of his control? It’s not entirely clear, and him getting whacked with a tree is a fairly lame way for him to be defeated. STill, there’s some tragedy to Wally’s loneliness continuing, and only getting worse when we see him last in his anti-telekinesis helmet. There’s still a good Carrie-esque tragedy to his bearing that helps a lot of this work.
I even like the somewhat sappy side line about the “existence of ghosts” question mattering because Li’l Matt thinks it’s a way to talk to their deceased father again. It’s a nice way to bring some of this down to earth, balancing the silly haunting stuff with how it muddies the waters for folks too young to understand. Terry’s closing statement to his little brother about how they can remember their dad and keep him alive that way is trite, but still quite sweet.
Overall, this one takes a while to get going, but once it brings Wally back into the fold, it improves considerably. I hope this isn’t the last time we deal with his pathos-ridden antagonism.