[6.0/10] Eh, another unavailing issue episode. There’s something to be said for using the lens of fiction to address issues like sending kids to therapy for natural behaviors or over-institutionalization or even prison reform, which the show seems to be getting at here. But all of it’s packed in so fast and so conveniently that it’s hard to invest too much in whatever muddled adventure Batman Beyond is trying to pull off here.
I don’t think we’ve ever met Sean the teen who acts out before, so he just comes out of nowhere. So does Dr. Wheeler (though that’s less out of the ordinary for a villain of the week). At least we have Chelsea to anchor this around a character we know, but even she’s pretty thin in terms of personality.
So instead we just get an action-y, teen focused version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which hey, isn’t a bad idea, but has bad execution here. Terry trying to expose the excesses of Dr. Wheeler’s farm of abuse and easy answers and then getting caught up in it is a predictable progression, and his stand-off with Sean over whether to kill Dr. Wheeler is trite and undercooked.
Still, this one’s plenty watchable even if it rushes through establishing all the necessary details for the story and then blows past what it sets up. It’s a replacement-level episode that’s hard to invest too deeply in, but which doesn’t do anything too egregious either.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-05-28T22:17:56Z
[6.0/10] Eh, another unavailing issue episode. There’s something to be said for using the lens of fiction to address issues like sending kids to therapy for natural behaviors or over-institutionalization or even prison reform, which the show seems to be getting at here. But all of it’s packed in so fast and so conveniently that it’s hard to invest too much in whatever muddled adventure Batman Beyond is trying to pull off here.
I don’t think we’ve ever met Sean the teen who acts out before, so he just comes out of nowhere. So does Dr. Wheeler (though that’s less out of the ordinary for a villain of the week). At least we have Chelsea to anchor this around a character we know, but even she’s pretty thin in terms of personality.
So instead we just get an action-y, teen focused version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which hey, isn’t a bad idea, but has bad execution here. Terry trying to expose the excesses of Dr. Wheeler’s farm of abuse and easy answers and then getting caught up in it is a predictable progression, and his stand-off with Sean over whether to kill Dr. Wheeler is trite and undercooked.
Still, this one’s plenty watchable even if it rushes through establishing all the necessary details for the story and then blows past what it sets up. It’s a replacement-level episode that’s hard to invest too deeply in, but which doesn’t do anything too egregious either.