[7.4/10] The Star Trek homages here are appropriate because, in many ways, this feels like an episode from that franchise. It’s not just traveling to another planet and going on an adventure, or even cavorting with a green member of the opposite sex. It’s delving into the complex social and political issues of another community.
I am glad that, after three seasons, we finally have a chance to see M’gaan’s home planet and more of her family and society in action. On a basic level, Conner and Garfield’s fish-out-of-water experiences in an alien culture is interesting. Learning the delicate balance between thinking something and telepathically communicating it, experiencing imitation and hatred in equal measure, and adjusting to different cultural rituals and practices all work well as thought-provoking analogues to real life issues that come with cultural exchange.
This is also a family story. We get to meet M’gaan’s parents, one of whom seems open and receptive to Earth practices and the other seems more reserved and ignorant about them. The problems with M’gaan’s brother M’com, which were tossed off at the end of last season, come back here in full force. And we meet her sister, Em’ree, with whom there’s clearly some type of rivalry and ill-feelings as well. Ripening the fruit on M’gann’s family tree helps us understand her better, and works as a tack to connect the familiar with the unknown.
But the part of this one I find most intriguing is the internal tensions on Mars. The racial strife we’d seen hints of continues. There is still a cast system among red, green, white, and (I think?) yellow Martians, which plagues the society. Different political leaders seek to reform or reinforce those divisions. And this racial issue coming to the fore inflames existing tensions. Once again, there’s a timeliness to Young Justice’s storytelling, reflecting American and global tensions that find purchase in the outsized story.
They dovetail with the interplanetary tensions that are also top of mind for many Martians. While Em’ree and Martian Manhunter work on constructing a zeta tube between Earth and Mars, many on Mars resent the closer connection between the two planets and view it as a form of “cultural contamination.” Season 2 delved into how the rest of the solar system and galaxy view our planet, and reinforcing that through a mixed reaction of admiration and resentment on Mars, carries that idea forward. The way it culminates in not only prejudice toward M’gaan and her family, but a terrorist attack on the zeta tube right as J’onn travels through it, portends more interesting things.
Not all of these elements work. This being the first episode of the season, there’s a ton of awkward exposition dumps to get the audience up-to-speed. Even though the glimpse of Martian culture is cool, the segmented names/words start to sound pretty silly after a while. But on the whole, this captures the spirit and hurdles of cultural exchanges at both a personal and societal level, which leaves me hopeful for the season to come.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2022-08-08T22:10:50Z
[7.4/10] The Star Trek homages here are appropriate because, in many ways, this feels like an episode from that franchise. It’s not just traveling to another planet and going on an adventure, or even cavorting with a green member of the opposite sex. It’s delving into the complex social and political issues of another community.
I am glad that, after three seasons, we finally have a chance to see M’gaan’s home planet and more of her family and society in action. On a basic level, Conner and Garfield’s fish-out-of-water experiences in an alien culture is interesting. Learning the delicate balance between thinking something and telepathically communicating it, experiencing imitation and hatred in equal measure, and adjusting to different cultural rituals and practices all work well as thought-provoking analogues to real life issues that come with cultural exchange.
This is also a family story. We get to meet M’gaan’s parents, one of whom seems open and receptive to Earth practices and the other seems more reserved and ignorant about them. The problems with M’gaan’s brother M’com, which were tossed off at the end of last season, come back here in full force. And we meet her sister, Em’ree, with whom there’s clearly some type of rivalry and ill-feelings as well. Ripening the fruit on M’gann’s family tree helps us understand her better, and works as a tack to connect the familiar with the unknown.
But the part of this one I find most intriguing is the internal tensions on Mars. The racial strife we’d seen hints of continues. There is still a cast system among red, green, white, and (I think?) yellow Martians, which plagues the society. Different political leaders seek to reform or reinforce those divisions. And this racial issue coming to the fore inflames existing tensions. Once again, there’s a timeliness to Young Justice’s storytelling, reflecting American and global tensions that find purchase in the outsized story.
They dovetail with the interplanetary tensions that are also top of mind for many Martians. While Em’ree and Martian Manhunter work on constructing a zeta tube between Earth and Mars, many on Mars resent the closer connection between the two planets and view it as a form of “cultural contamination.” Season 2 delved into how the rest of the solar system and galaxy view our planet, and reinforcing that through a mixed reaction of admiration and resentment on Mars, carries that idea forward. The way it culminates in not only prejudice toward M’gaan and her family, but a terrorist attack on the zeta tube right as J’onn travels through it, portends more interesting things.
Not all of these elements work. This being the first episode of the season, there’s a ton of awkward exposition dumps to get the audience up-to-speed. Even though the glimpse of Martian culture is cool, the segmented names/words start to sound pretty silly after a while. But on the whole, this captures the spirit and hurdles of cultural exchanges at both a personal and societal level, which leaves me hopeful for the season to come.