Justice League Unlimited, Season 3, Episode 11: Ancient History
The third season of Justice League Unlimited didn't quite try to be as serialized as its second season, but it does know that it is the last entry into the DC Animated Universe. (Batman Beyond was produced and concluded way, way earlier before JLU entered play) So while the Legion of Doom plot was running, we still had to conclude a couple of outstanding plotlines, and this one decides to tackle the tricky business of concluding the Hawkman/Hawkgirl reincarnation storyline. And while we didn't quite get much in lieu of a definite conclusion, it's a definition that felt so much more well done than the 'well, I guess I'm going off with my new love interest' that last episode did with Supergirl and Brainiac 5. At the end of this episode, Shayera picks neither Hawkman or Green Lantern, and neither does Green Lantern break up from Vixen. I guess the moral of the story is a big "fuck you" to destiny and let things play out naturally, whether it happens to sync itself with destiny or not? Both Lantern and Shayera are beholden to different kinds of destinies. Lantern knows that in the future he's 'supposed' to get together with Shayera and make Warhawk. Shayera is being told by Carter Hall that she's 'supposed' to get together with him to fulfill the whole reincarnated lovers destiny they have. And the show makes it clear that both couplings have a not insignificant amount of chemistry behind them.
Still, though, it's an episode that's a bit bizarre. We've gotten the first part of this flashback in Egypt all the way back in "Shadow of the Hawk", but here we learn that even in ancient Egypt, the Thanagarian pharaohs Katar Hol and Chay-Ara had a bit of a complication in the form of Bashari, a soldier that looks suspiciously like John Stewart. It's an awfully weird plot 'twist' that seems to imply that, what, Shayera/Chay-Ara's destiny is always with Bashari, the man she cheated on her husband with? It makes it so that whoever she chooses it seems awfully muddled that Shayera is always stuck with someone from her past.
Add that to the weird combination that apparently reliving her Chay-Ara days via the plot device called the Absorbicron, Shayera suddenly decides to relive the part of her destiny that she ends up with Bashari/John, and goes all in on wanting a baby -- especially when the future existence of Warhawk is revealed to her, as she tries (though not as upfront as Bashari in the past) to renkindle the romance she used to have with John. Because whatever the case of destiny and true love and whatever, trying to come in the middle of an established relationship is something that still doesn't sit well with me because it'd be a dick move, whether it be Bashari in the past or Shayera in the present. Thankfully, Shayera still understands her boundaries when it comes to John as he's still in a relationship with Vixen, and the sparring session she has with Vixen makes it clear that at the very least, Shayera likes Vixen enough to respect her, and while they both acknowledge that Shayera still has feelings for John, but won't be that huge of a thorn in the current John/Vixen relationship (despite her little joke about how in Thanagar she could assassinate her love rivals)... up until the weird Absorbicron flashback.
Compounding the odd direction the writers chose to take with Shayera is the fact that "Shadow of the Hawk" ended beautifully with Shayera deciding to create her own path in life and rejects any kind of this mystical mumbo-jumbo. And yes, actually reliving her past life via plot device is a different and more significant event compared to Hawkman's words, but will it really change Shayera's personality that much?
Or maybe this is all a commentary on how real-life relationships tend to be absolutely messy with all those pesky feelings getting in the way of the bro code (or sis code, in this case) and you can use anything as a justification for your love? Maybe why Shayera is so affected here is because the new information about Bashari-x-Chay-Ara and Warhawk shows her destiny with John, who she wants to be with, whereas the past talk about destiny involves Carter, who Shayera doesn't want to be with? It's weird, it's messy, but it is in this messiness that the episode actually works to some degree. It's not the worst character change that I've ever seen, but in a show as well-written as Justice League Unlimited it's a bit annoying that Shayera's final journey didn't end in a high note. It's not bad, it's just... oddly underwhelming, that the love life that Shayera finds in John outside her supposed reincarnation cycle ends up actually being part of it, just to slam down the John-x-Shayera thing as being the one true ship.
I suppose I have been bitching a bit too much about the ending of the episode, that I'm ignoring the rest of the episode. It was actually decent, with the episode first being set up to uncover Hawkman's secret, only for the Shadow Thief -- here revealed to be the personification of Carter Hall (or Katar Hol)'s deepest, darkest desires, and has been setting it all up, kidnapping Green Lantern and Carter Hall, and luring Shayera to the place where the three of them could be placed in the Absorbicron together. After defeating Shadow Thief in a bit of a silly 'deny the evil demon's power by not fighting' trick, Carter leaves, acknowledging that he and Shayera are not meant to be together.
And I suppose that John still stays with Vixen, though his note to Shayera that if/when they get together it'll be on their own terms rings a little hollow considering the fact that now destinies both past and present are even clamouring for Shayera-x-John. And while we never actually get to see Shayera and John get together (since the show ends) the final scene of Shayera going to Batman for information about Warhawk that she's going to be a little bit more proactive in nailing down her man.
I dunno. It's a bit muddy, and while it's not necessarily bad -- scripting, action and the beautiful artwork used in the flashbacks are all well done -- it's an episode that left a bit of a strange taste in the mouth. It's not bad, it's just... confusing more than anything and really even ten years after I've watched this episode when it aired, I still don't know whether I like this episode or not.
Justice League Roll Call:
- Speaking Superheroes: Green Lantern, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Vixen
- Non-Speaking Superheroes: Batman
- Speaking Supervillains: Gentleman Ghost, Shadow Thief
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- A fair amount of the flashbacks pay homage to previous episodes. Bashari and Chay-Ara's kiss replicates, frame-for-frame, John and Shayera's first kiss in "Wild Cards", while Hath-Set's interactions with Chay-Ara and Katar mirrors Kragger's role as someone trying to ruin Shayera and Hro Talak's romance by implying that a third party is involved. Hath-Set even shares the same voice actor as Kragger.
- Shadow Thief paraphases the Green Lantern oath when he says that 'blackest night beats brightest day'.
- Gentleman Ghost (a.k.a. Jim Craddock), one of my favourite minor villains, actually makes sense as someone to be included in this episode even if he doesn't have much relevance beyond being the villain that Hawkman helps to take out early on. Jim Craddock was killed by two gunslingers in the 19th century, and promises to haunt the Earth until the spirit of his killers has moved on to the afterlife... but his killers happen to be the ever-reincarnating spirits of Khufu and Chay-Ara, which means that he's trapped on this plane of existence as the Gentleman Ghost ever since.
- Katar briefly mentions Teth-Adam as the leader of a neighbouring country. Teth-Adam is the real name of the anti-hero Black Adam, who is Captain Marvel's biggest archnemesis and his predecessor as the wielder of the powers of the wizard Shazam.
No comments:
Post a Comment