[7.4/10] It’s not always perfect, but I appreciate how committed this show has been to depicting Beast Boy’s descent into grief and depression and the possibility for his recovery. His sense of participating in the mandatory mental health checks in order to check a box and avoid being kicked out of the group he founded is a good setup But I appreciate how Black Canary plays things smart, leads Beast Boy into admitting he’s not okay, and more importantly, that he blames himself for all of these losses and does so unfairly.
The poor kid’s been through a lot, and while I’ve found the character a little annoying at times, you can’t help but gasp at the amount of trauma he’s suffered when it’s all laid out like that. Black Canary giving him the “You can do everything right and still lose, Jean-Luc Picard-esque reassurance, and helping him see that he’s too quick to blame himself for losses that happen in their line of work, is a strong step to recovery. Again, there’s a little bit of melodrama here, especially with the score, but the show’s heart is in the right place, and I can’t help but admire that.
Were that I could say the same for the Zod business in the Phantom Zone. Maybe it’s just the cheesy chant that Zod’s followers do as they move giant rocks for no apparent reasons. But he doesn’t seem very good at hiding that he’s an oppressive bad guy, and it seems like Conner would be an idiot if he fell for it.
Zod Jr. and his team making a play against Metron for the Phantom Zone projector is certainly better. There’s real challenges there, and the set pieces involved in breaking into a New God’s lair, fending off his guard dog of deadly red mist, and using time travel and mental powers to get away with it makes for some solid sequences. The timey wimey nonsense starts to get a little silly and convoluted, but I’m willing to roll with it.
Last but not least, the bickering among the various parties to the Super Summit is a decent, if scattershot beat. We get it, they’re not on the same page. But it seems like we’re mostly hitting territory already covered in the last episode. That said, with members of the Young Justice crew showing up on New Genesis, it is nice to see Bear brought back, if only to comment on Conner’s death. We do learn a few tidbits about various desires and demands, but the differences laid out here aren’t especially novel or compelling. That said, I’m kind of loath to see Forager leave the team to shack up with a partner he just met, even if Bug romances move faster than human ones.
Overall, the episode is a little scattered since it presumably has to set up a lot for the finale of this arc, but the individual elements are fairly solid, with the Garfield Logan story leading the way as quite good.
That scene in Dinah’s office moved me to tears. I’ve never seen the topic of grief and trauma looked at so thoroughly in almost any medium, much less superhero cartoons.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2022-08-31T04:02:17Z
[7.4/10] It’s not always perfect, but I appreciate how committed this show has been to depicting Beast Boy’s descent into grief and depression and the possibility for his recovery. His sense of participating in the mandatory mental health checks in order to check a box and avoid being kicked out of the group he founded is a good setup But I appreciate how Black Canary plays things smart, leads Beast Boy into admitting he’s not okay, and more importantly, that he blames himself for all of these losses and does so unfairly.
The poor kid’s been through a lot, and while I’ve found the character a little annoying at times, you can’t help but gasp at the amount of trauma he’s suffered when it’s all laid out like that. Black Canary giving him the “You can do everything right and still lose, Jean-Luc Picard-esque reassurance, and helping him see that he’s too quick to blame himself for losses that happen in their line of work, is a strong step to recovery. Again, there’s a little bit of melodrama here, especially with the score, but the show’s heart is in the right place, and I can’t help but admire that.
Were that I could say the same for the Zod business in the Phantom Zone. Maybe it’s just the cheesy chant that Zod’s followers do as they move giant rocks for no apparent reasons. But he doesn’t seem very good at hiding that he’s an oppressive bad guy, and it seems like Conner would be an idiot if he fell for it.
Zod Jr. and his team making a play against Metron for the Phantom Zone projector is certainly better. There’s real challenges there, and the set pieces involved in breaking into a New God’s lair, fending off his guard dog of deadly red mist, and using time travel and mental powers to get away with it makes for some solid sequences. The timey wimey nonsense starts to get a little silly and convoluted, but I’m willing to roll with it.
Last but not least, the bickering among the various parties to the Super Summit is a decent, if scattershot beat. We get it, they’re not on the same page. But it seems like we’re mostly hitting territory already covered in the last episode. That said, with members of the Young Justice crew showing up on New Genesis, it is nice to see Bear brought back, if only to comment on Conner’s death. We do learn a few tidbits about various desires and demands, but the differences laid out here aren’t especially novel or compelling. That said, I’m kind of loath to see Forager leave the team to shack up with a partner he just met, even if Bug romances move faster than human ones.
Overall, the episode is a little scattered since it presumably has to set up a lot for the finale of this arc, but the individual elements are fairly solid, with the Garfield Logan story leading the way as quite good.