[7.7/10] My feelings about this episode mostly mirror my feelings about the last one. The material involving Orphan’s soul and the mourning of Conner Kent are both quite good. The material involving Tigress and Jade is well-intentioned and thought-provoking, but more than a little clumsy in execution.
Let’s start with the best part. I went from not caring about Orphan at all, to her quickly being one of my favorite new characters on the show. The abiding theme of this arc has been people outrunning their parental abuse and fear of turning into what their parents tried to make them. Nobody exemplifies that better than Orphan. Seeing her break free, nearly kill her mother, but relent when Oracle tells her she doesn’t have to be what Lady Shiva tried to make her, moves the soul. It’s a big choice, one suffused with Tigress’ caution that the Justice League doesn’t turn kids into killers, and that affirms the better familial bond Orphan has forged with Barbara Gordon.
I also appreciated the show’s effort to depict how Conner’s death has affected the Kent family. Greg Weisman and company show a great deal of maturity in Superman’s explanation of death to his son, one that is age appropriate, but also frank and a touch hopeful about how we hold onto the people we’ve lost. The coda to those scenes, with Clark lamenting how their relationship floundered at first and blaming himself for the loss, is full of pathos and a sign of how Conner touched his brother’s life.
The Tigress/Cheshire sections of the episode are more hit or miss. The stand-off with the Shadows didn’t do much for me. I get that this arc is essentially a mystery story, and at the end of any good whodunnit, there’s some explanation for how the culprit pulled everything off. But the extended exposition dumps in the midst of a life-or-death scenario scan as downright tedious, and the ensuing fight isn't much better. (Though I appreciate that Shade helps out our heroes as recompense for Cheshire saving his life back in season 2.)
I do, however, love the conversation between Artemis and Jade about staying in each other’s life and escaping their childhoods. I buy Jade’s explanation for why she no longer wants to be in Lian’s life -- a fear that she’s become her father and will pass the same damage onto her child that he did to her. It’s a compelling exploration of the lasting scars of abuse, and also of Artemis’ efforts to show that their childhoods are not destiny, and that with mutual support, they can still choose to be different, better people.
But from there, it’s a lot of stilted speechifying, from Onyx and Sensei in particular. I like Sensei’s admission that the Shadows were never a family, but that it was merely a ploy to create fanatical loyalty to the cause and sever people’s connections with their real loved ones so that their commitment wouldn’t be compromised. Outside of the direct conversation between Jade and Artemis though, it all quickly turns into “Time to give my big speech about a grand idea” rather than human beings having natural conversations. Plus, the resolution of Infinity Island turning into some communal healing halfway house seems pretty odd.
Overall, I appreciate this arcs’ aims to examine the perpetuated scars of parental abuse through Artemis and Jade, and the development of Orphan in particular, but some of the mechanics and dramatization of those ideas left something to be desired.
Shout by justinpinkmanBlockedParent2021-12-09T00:12:42Z
I completely adore Artemis. Few characters in comic book, and television history alike, have made me proud of them like she has. It sounds strange to say you feel pride about a fictional character, but her growth has been truly amazing and she has been a standout since her introductory episode way back in Season 1. This 4-episode arc dealt with a lot of the stuff that I love Young Justice for so I was much more engaged than I was during the Miss Martian/M’arzz arc, and it still feels like my boy Conner ain’t really gone for good.