2x11 Panic in the Sky

[7.3/10] I’m probably judging this one unfairly because of the company it keeps. This episode is totally fine! It’s just not as deep or interesting as the other recent installments of the Cadmus arc.

That includes the boardroom conversations among the founding members of the Justice League. We’ve had a lot of interesting conversations about power and ethics, but this is basically just “We just have to do our jobs” “No, we need the trust of the people!” “Wait, what if we could do both?” It’s a bit oversimplified of an answer to the tricky questions the series has been asking the past couple of seasons.

That said, I like the gestures of the founding members (or six of them anyway) turning themselves in until the investigation into the Cadmus orbital blast is completed as a show of good will. There’s an interesting notion of submitting yourself to due process even if you don’t have to rather than holding yourself above it.

On the other hand, Batman basically says, “that’s stupid,” and then proves himself right, which seems to undercut that idea? I continue to like his scenes with Waller as they’re birds of a feather. Him pointing out that Lex is playing her while Waller thought she was playing him, by speaking on a level of logic and strategy the two of them can understand, is a good moment.

I also like the payoff, that when Waller looks into it herself, she realizes Batman was right, and even enlists the rest of the Justice League to help stop him. It’s a cool triumphant moment, especially with the good guys teaming up with their erstwhile enemy to go after an even greater foe.

That said, while I’m interested in the payoff, we’re starting to reach absurd levels of twist here. Lex betraying Waller isn’t that crazy, and makes sense given his nature. Likewise, him wanting to taunt and push Superman beyond his limits is also true to form. I’ll even take him working with Cadmus just so he can make himself an awesome new android body modeled after Amazo’s body, which makes sense given his previous terminal disease. But now he’s also been possessed and taken over by Brainiac? It feels like a bridge too far, but we’ll see where the show takes it in the next episode.

That just leaves the assault on the Watchtower, It’s not bad. It’s just harder to care. I get that the show is Justice League Unlimited now, so you need to show the various B- and C-teamer doing their part. But it’s tough to get too excited about a mass of heroes who’ve barely received any characterization facing off against an undifferentiated swarms of Ultimen who by definition have no personalities. I like Steel’s speech about the original Leaguers being the best because of who they are, not just their powers, and it’s fun to see little bits like The Creeper back in action or Red Tornado tossing around a pile of fallen Long Shadows, but it’s mostly just a bunch of static action that didn’t do much for me. (If you’ll pardon the expression -- Static being a part of the fray would have been really cool!)

Even the Supergirl vs. Powergirl showdown isn’t that great, since we barely get any further shading to Galatea beyond the fact that she considers Prof. Hamilton her dad. I do like Kara getting into Powergirl’s head with the “you’re just a clone” routine, and the giant power cord attack is visually cool, but the show just didn’t build to it well enough.

Overall, this episode is a definite step down from the prior ones, but there’s still plenty of good material here.