Hi! Welcome to my episode-by-episode recap of, and reaction to Justice League. There will be no spoilers beyond the current episode. As is my custom with recaps, I will give you a short summary recap followed by a long and unnecessarily helpfully detailed version. My reaction will follow at the end if you just want to scroll past all of the recap.
If you want to see my prior Justice League episode reviews, click HERE:
THE QUICK AND CLEAN SUMMARY:
Kilowog crashes to Earth, seeking Green Lantern’s help to rescue other members of the Green Lantern Corps from the psychic, would-be conqueror Despero. He also explains that Green Lantern’s former mentor and lover, Katma Tui, is one of the captives. After facing Despero and losing, Green Lantern has to retrain himself to use his power ring to help the League end Despero’s reign. Flash, Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter accompany Kilowog to Despero’s planet to help Green Lantern stop him.
THE EXTRA DUSTY RECAP:
The episode opens with a major battle involving the Green Lantern Corp. We hear one of them yell that it was a setup and that they walked right into it. The lanterns are forced to fall back and regroup. This fails, leaving only Kilowog as the only uncaptured member of the Corp. He flees into space, alone.
Hawkgirl and Green Lantern are arguing over how to do a repair, when Flash interrupts them to point out that they sound like an old married couple. Just then, the Watchtower alarm sounds a perimeter alert. Hawkgirl says she notes a life sign, and GL flies after it while Flash leaves to get MM.
GL follows until he witnesses the life form crash, creating a crater. At this point, he recognizes Kilowog in the crater and goes to him. Flash, MM, and Hawkgirl arrive just in time to hear Kilowog tell GL that they’ve got Kat. GL asks who got her, but he passes out. GL tells the others to take care of him, and leaves immediately.
Kilowog is on the Watchtower later, being tended to. When he wakes, he tells them who attacked.
Kilowog: It’s called the Legion of the Third Eye a fanatical cult from the planet Kalanor. He explains that the GL Corp was called in to bring in their boss, Despero, after the cult invaded another planet. However, he says the underestimated Despero’s true power. Flash asks about Katma Tui, and Kilowog answers that she was the GL who trained John Stewart (the JL’s GL.)
We cut to seeing GL investigate the battle site. After he goes down to the planet to do reconnaissance work, where he witnesses the Legion of the Third Eye in action. They arrest someone for the contraband of carrying a book. One of the Legion tells the arrestee that he knows Despero forbids them to read. The man pleads for Despero’s forgiveness, praising his name like a god. Just before they hurt the man, GL intervenes, captures both men, and knocks them out.
GL: [to the man he just saved] You can demonstrate your gratitude by giving me some information.
Man: [flees] Despero, forgive me!
GL leaves, not wanting to draw attention to himself.
On the Watchtower, MM tells Kilowog that they cannot reach GL and he replies that this is no surprise, as Kalanor is on the edge of the galaxy. Hawkgirl says that they cannot let GL face Despero alone, leading MM to ask Kilowog if he can take them to Kalanor. He answers that his ring is out of battery. Flash points out that GL has a charger, though nobody knows where he keeps it.
Back at Kalanor, GL is now in a better disguise and still scouting the planet. As he searches a building, looking for Kat, he is attacked and knocked out from behind by one of the Legion.
Flash and Kilowog search GL’s apartment for the place where he hides his battery. While they search, and Flash eats, GL’s landlord arrives and tries to chase them out. She is a little old lady with a broom and delivers most of her blows to Flash while Kilowog finally locates the battery.
Flash: [while leaving] Nice meeting you, ma’am. If we ever need a replacement for Hawkgirl…
GL is dropped at Despero’s feet.
Despero: Another Green Lantern? This is getting monotonous, but I’m sure it’s not your fault. You were, I’m sure, just following your master’s orders.
He tells Flash that the Guardians would be wise to step aside, as a new order is coming to the universe – one that will be written in fire. He adds that GL would be wise to join him. He then launches into his origin story monologue, explaining that he started as a peasant, cast out because of his deformity, who was guided by the hand of fate to a gang of thieves. While they attacked him, the ground open and the great flame took out his assailants.
Despero: But I was spared. My third eye opened and the flame spoke to me in a voice that only I could hear. It told me of a time when Kalanor would become a paradise.
He tells GL that the flame of Py’tar charged him with spreading its light across the galaxy. GL is skeptical, but Despero then directs him to see the flame of Py’tar. An enormous pair of gold doors open and a giant flame is visible behind them.
GL: You build a bonfire. Am I supposed to be impressed?
Despero notes that he is not the first skeptic, and that he will not be the last. GL then reveals he has a ring, and goes on the attack. Despero orders him to opens his eyes that he might see, and counter-attacks. The light from Despero’s third eye overwhelms GL’s ring and GL is made unconscious. Despero orders the priestess to throw this one into the flames. We see, suddenly, that the priestess is Katma Tui, the Lantern Corp member. GL sees her and is shocked. She attacks him and then throws him into the flame.
The next thing we see is GL emerging from a flame and being greeted by beings who look similar to Despero, except they lack a third eye. They welcome him to the resistance upon his arrival. GL asks them why he is alive, and they explain that he was plucked from the fire by a matter transporter. Kat then joins them, garbed as a priestess, saying it was the best she could come up with on short notice. Then she punches GL in the face, asking why he is there. When he says he thought she was in trouble, she asks when she has ever needed help.
They talk and she explains that she is undercover now, gathering information, and that Despero is on the verge of starting a major war of conquest. She instructs him to stay where he is and to coordinate with the others, noting that he would not look so good in a brass bikini like the one she is wearing as a priestess. Then she kisses him and leaves. The episode ends with Despero declaring that it is to begin.
The flame consumes the worshippers and they fly out, empowered, and instructed to emblazon Despero’s will across the cosmos.
Part 2
[previously on JL…]
Katma reports back to the rest of the resistance that the attack has started. When GL argues he doesn’t have the manpower to conquer the galaxy, she pushes back that he does if he can subjugate and recruit the people from each new world that he conquers. The rest of the resistance agrees with Kat.
GL suggests that they go get a few thousand of the Lantern Corp and Kat replies that there is a dampening field around the planet preventing communication with Oa. Just as GL makes to leave, their resistance is attacked by the Legion. During the fight, GL’s ring stops working so the resistance flees to a secondary site.
They soon find that they are trapped. Kat declares that they will make their last stand where they are. Just then, Hawkgirl arrives and starts attacking the Legion. She is joined by Kilowog, Flash, and MM. The resistance wins the skirmish, but still need to flee before Despero’s reinforcements arrive.
MM and one of the resistance fighters notice that hieroglyphs on buildings in Kalanor indicate that the planet was once a paradise. Meanwhile, GL and Kat discuss why his ring is not working. They speculate that Despero has effected his will in some way.
GL: That would explain this feeling that a piece of me is missing – an important piece.
She tells him that it’s time to relearn what he has learned and she suggests teaching him. He reluctantly agrees. Hawkgirl watches them at a distance and is unhappy with developments.
We see one of Despero’s Legion members reporting on the escape. He is told that to atone, he must march into the desert, dressed in simple robes, and to then stay there awaiting a vision from him.
GL and Kat have flirty re-training. It devolves into an argument, though, with GL storming out telling her that he’s not a kid anymore. Outside, Hawkgirl comments that she’s got a bit of an edge to her, and reminds him that most people tend to cling to a vision of other people, from the time when they knew them best. He asks her, as someone who knows him in the here and now, what she would suggest. She says she would tell him to get back in there or face the consequences. When he says he fails to note the difference in the two approaches, she gets close to him and says in a flirty way that there’s a difference. Then she slaps him on the butt and sends him back in.
Later, they all discuss how to attack Despero and they conclude that the best plan of attack is to attack the flame of Py’tar, with a carbon bomb. Kilowog says that he can build one. They believe that if they can stop the flame, they’ll stop Despero’s attack on the galaxy.
In the next scene, we see one of the resistance fighters going to Despero, to tell him where the Resistance fighters have gathered. He tells Despero that he wants to be on the winning side, when asked why Despero should believe this betrayal.
Despero: They will accept the light of Py’tar, or they will die.
Kat tells Hawkgirl that she thinks GL is finished, and that they will need to recall someone else to take over GL’s section of space. Hawkgirl is in disbelief. Kat notes that he has given up on himself, and Hawkgirl replies that he is not the only one.
Hawkgirl: I guess that’s what happens when a toy loses its luster.
She finds GL later, and he is making plans for helping, even without the ring.
GL: There is more to me than just a fancy ring.
Hawkgirl: I have always known that, John.
The resistance completes the carbon bomb and immediately faces an attack from Despero’s forces. Kilowog, Flash, and MM take the bomb, while Kat buys them time to leave with it.
Hawkgirl, GL, and Katma are all captured. Despero admits to being confused about how GL survived the flame, but then tells them that they will fight on his side now. He uses psychic powers on Katma’s mind, first, bending her to his will. Despero then tells GL that he won’t put Hawkgirl in his army. He notes that her wings give her an exotic quality and that he thinks he will instead make her one of his personal attendants. He then breathes on her neck. Despero then attacks Hawkgirl’s mid. While she screams, we see GL concentrating hard on his ring, which is not far away. It begins to move, and then finally comes to him. He then fights back with the power of his ring.
GL: Round two, freak.
They fight, while we see the bomb being dropped on the flame. Just before they drop it, MM stops them. Flash asks why and MM explains that the Py’tar is a sentient being, alive and in pain, and that it wants to make contact. MM reaches out to it
Meanwhile, GL is putting up a good fight one on one against Despero.
MM jumps into the flame. As the people of Kalanor rush to stop the JL team, MM reemerges from the flame in a new form.
Flash: Alright. We are officially spoked here.
MM: [new voice, new form] Hear me, on children of Kalanor. I am Py’tar, the living soul of this planet. Despero is a great deceiver. He has misused my power for his own petty ends. I say unto thee that Py’tar is not a source of hatred, but a beacon of hope. In times gone by, Kalanor was a paradise. It can be again.
He tells them to reject Despro and to step into the light. The locals do and we see Py’tar’s light enveloping them.
Meanwhile, Despero is taken by vines from the planet. He asks for Py’tar not to forsake him. As he is wrapped up, he finds peace and says that now he sees paradise. The army sent out returns to the planet, and we see it morph back into a paradise.
After, Flash asks if they can go home now, and Kat suggests that GL remain behind to help rebuild. He tells her sorry and says that duty calls. The GL leaves and returns to earth. As they go, Hawkgirl notes that Kat must have been a good teacher. GL agrees but says some things cannot be taught, and can only be learned through experience.
Hawkgirl: Like?
GL: Clarity.
REACTION:
Green Lantern stories have never really landed for me. I’m not sure why, though I think a lot of it has to do with how strange-looking some of the other GLs are, combined with how very humanoid others are. There’s this idea in Star Trek, and in a lot of science fiction stories involving human-ish aliens, called “panspermia” – which is basically the explanation for why advanced life tends to end up looking very much the same around the universe. The Green Lantern Corp both embraces this… and also doesn’t. I don’t know, something about the aesthetic always bothered me. It’s like GL wants to be serious and a parody of itself, at the same time.
My feeling on the character is uneven though because I really like Green Lantern (John Stewart anyway) when he’s not around the other members of the Green Lantern Corp.
This story didn’t work for me. I don’t think I ever really understood what was going on. Did Despero subjugate the Py’tar? I don’t think so. But if not, why did it work for him for so long, doing evil, and then why did it stop when it met Martian Manhunter? That wasn’t clear to me. I also had a problem with Despero taking out a bunch of GL Corp members, including John Stewart, but then struggling one-on-one with him near the end of the episode. That felt to me like it diminished his threat level.
It also wasn’t clear to me why GL stopped being able to use his ring. If Despero did something to his mind, that wasn’t spelled out enough. IF it was a function of pure self-doubt… why? I guess the whole point was to set up a scenario where his incredible will overcame that barrier in the service of saving Hawkgirl, who he now realizes he has feelings for.
The main point of this story was to further set up the Hawkgirl / Green Lantern love story. He needed to realize he liked her, and in order to find that clarity, he needed to first interact with his old flame Kat. To get there, we needed a female GL corp member, and thus we needed a Lantern Corp story. I don’t care too much, one way or the other, about this pairing. I don’t like it as much as Wonder Woman and Batman. But I guess it makes sense. They have some chemistry.
We had no Superman again for this two-parter. It’s probably easier to tell stories when you don’t have him around to easily solve everything by himself. Wonder Woman and Batman were gone, too. Maybe earth had need of its Big Three off-screen.
All in all, this wasn’t bad, and Keith David as the voice actor for Despero was awesome, but it was probably my least favorite story in the show to this point.
Building up villains and then having to weaken them is a common problem in fiction. In the “Space Seed” episode of Star Trek, Khan was built up as a superman but Kirk defeats him in hand to hand combat. I read a Reacher novel that in the first half kept building up his opponents as top special forces guys and then when Reacher had to face off against them, suddenly explain that his enemies had gotten soft being just mercenaries on easier missions.
Yeah. I don’t mind that problem when it switches between story-tellers. It bothers me more when it’s within the same story (unless there’s a really solid explanation.) Sometime a bad guy might be nearly unbeatable… until you know his weakness, at which point he’s very beatable. But thoes types of characters are hard to re-use.
It works for Superman.
That’s a good point.