Tonight's toons
Teen Titans: Titans East, Part 2:
So I have much love for this entire series and thoroughly enjoyed the episode before this. For example, I loved that the Titans East Tower has a pool in the living room. Because that means it was designed with its occupants in mind.
And this episode gave me more of the same. I mean-- Robin and Cyborg's conversation at the beginning? Loved it. Then Robin explaining everything to his team was perfect because it shows why he's a good leader. He didn't agree with Cyborg's decision, and the way their conversation went, it sounded like neither would be talking to the other for a while. However, he didn't say any of that to the others. If he'd relayed the fight, it would have put Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire in a position to take sides. And he doesn't do that.
...I could have lived without the last five minutes of the ep though. They were one giant "What the heck?" Cyborg has never shown any magical abilities, so how was he able to take Blood's robots and absorb them to rebuild himself? And-- Blood cut off one of Cyborg's few remaining bits of flesh. He couldn't recreate flesh from mechanical bits! My roommate suggested that it was "man-magic" which allowed him to do that. Because the stuff about wanting to "be a man" kind of came out of nowhere.
Teen Titans continues to creep me out with its adult-teen interaction. Slade spent most of his time trying to seduce Robin, while Robin as Red X tried to seduce Slade. Brother Blood has thankfully not been as suggestive to Cyborg, but he still ended up spending time fondling his mind-controlled students.
I also wonder why Speedy is such a poor shot. I don't think he hit a single thing this episode. Which... sort of defeats the purpose of being an archer. And I blame him using his bow as a club on Blood's mind control.
JLU: The Once and Future Thing, Part 1:
Finally this season hasn't sucked. I'd pretty much given up. But-- the interactions between Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern were good. I got a glimpse of why Batman/Wonder Woman is appealing even though I don't believe it could work out happily. (I don't think Batman can have a happy relationship; he would have to stop being Batman to do so.) Plus, it was nice to finally have a two-part episode because then the guest characters feel less gratuitous. There's more room for actual plot and characterization. (Though I am still bitter about the lack of Flash this season.)
The Old West stuff was... eh. It reminded me of when Star Trek did the OK Corral. Meaning it felt like an excuse to go, "Whee, cowboy hats!" And I felt that Sheriff Smith and El Diablo were rather pale, if they really were supposed to be a Native American and Mexican. I'd kind of hoped Max Mercury would show up when I saw they'd been transported back into the Old West, but that's a personal quirk.
On the other hand, I am totally psyched for next week's ep. They're in the Batman Beyond 'verse! And there's Static too! Old Static, even, which means that Bruce has probably finally died. Makes me wonder how Terry's life has played out, since I can see Terry as not believing Bruce's mortality until Bruce finally dropped dead.
So I have much love for this entire series and thoroughly enjoyed the episode before this. For example, I loved that the Titans East Tower has a pool in the living room. Because that means it was designed with its occupants in mind.
And this episode gave me more of the same. I mean-- Robin and Cyborg's conversation at the beginning? Loved it. Then Robin explaining everything to his team was perfect because it shows why he's a good leader. He didn't agree with Cyborg's decision, and the way their conversation went, it sounded like neither would be talking to the other for a while. However, he didn't say any of that to the others. If he'd relayed the fight, it would have put Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire in a position to take sides. And he doesn't do that.
...I could have lived without the last five minutes of the ep though. They were one giant "What the heck?" Cyborg has never shown any magical abilities, so how was he able to take Blood's robots and absorb them to rebuild himself? And-- Blood cut off one of Cyborg's few remaining bits of flesh. He couldn't recreate flesh from mechanical bits! My roommate suggested that it was "man-magic" which allowed him to do that. Because the stuff about wanting to "be a man" kind of came out of nowhere.
Teen Titans continues to creep me out with its adult-teen interaction. Slade spent most of his time trying to seduce Robin, while Robin as Red X tried to seduce Slade. Brother Blood has thankfully not been as suggestive to Cyborg, but he still ended up spending time fondling his mind-controlled students.
I also wonder why Speedy is such a poor shot. I don't think he hit a single thing this episode. Which... sort of defeats the purpose of being an archer. And I blame him using his bow as a club on Blood's mind control.
JLU: The Once and Future Thing, Part 1:
Finally this season hasn't sucked. I'd pretty much given up. But-- the interactions between Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern were good. I got a glimpse of why Batman/Wonder Woman is appealing even though I don't believe it could work out happily. (I don't think Batman can have a happy relationship; he would have to stop being Batman to do so.) Plus, it was nice to finally have a two-part episode because then the guest characters feel less gratuitous. There's more room for actual plot and characterization. (Though I am still bitter about the lack of Flash this season.)
The Old West stuff was... eh. It reminded me of when Star Trek did the OK Corral. Meaning it felt like an excuse to go, "Whee, cowboy hats!" And I felt that Sheriff Smith and El Diablo were rather pale, if they really were supposed to be a Native American and Mexican. I'd kind of hoped Max Mercury would show up when I saw they'd been transported back into the Old West, but that's a personal quirk.
On the other hand, I am totally psyched for next week's ep. They're in the Batman Beyond 'verse! And there's Static too! Old Static, even, which means that Bruce has probably finally died. Makes me wonder how Terry's life has played out, since I can see Terry as not believing Bruce's mortality until Bruce finally dropped dead.