Task Force X - Col. Rick Flagg assembles Deadshot, Clock King, Captain Boomerang and Plastique to essentially pull a heist job on the Watchtower. Standing in the way is a stripped down JLU of J’onn J’onnz, Green Lantern and Captain Atom – as well as the B team of The Atom Smasher, Shining Knight and The Vigilante (the western one).
Best lines: Captain Boomerang tries to justify setting off the metal detectors in the Watchtower. “It was seventy-five cents. What am I supposed to do, throw away money?”
The Balance- Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl form an uneasy allaince to stop the disturbance that’s afflicting all magic users in the DCU. Episode highlight – a brief appearance by The Three Demons – Agenezar, Rath and freaking Ghast!!! I’ll ignore the fact that they suddenly show up in the Grecian Tartarus instead of the Christian Hell proper… but it’s a neat cameo anyway.
Best lines: Hawkgirl, to a bunch of demons: “That’s right – I’m an angel!” (To Wonder Woman, as demons fly away in terror) “Hopefully they’ll all be that dumb.”
A previously seen McGuffin from last year links the two epsiodes, but that I won’t spoil.
Nonono…best line: After getting one of the demons (Agenezar, I think, but I’ve never been 100% which of that lot is which) to tell them where to go: S: ‘How’d you do it?’ D: ‘Magic Lasso. Who knew.’ S: ‘OK, if you don’t want to tell…’
TFX was a more ‘OMG, that’s FREAKIN’ COOL!’ episode (although it did disappoint me some, mostly in the team used - I wasn’t perfectly happy with the characterization of Digger, and Clock King would not have been among my first choices), but on the balance (heh), I thought the Balace was the better episode. I loved the interaction between Diana and Shayera. And Flash taking it upon himself to make them be friends again. And it had Felix Faust in it, and that’s always good.
I loved the last scene of TFX, between J’onn and John. And, much as I like the kid, seeing the Squad pwning Atom Smasher kicked ass.
(Rather than Atom Smasher, I’d have likes to have seen Vigilante and Shining Knight grouped with Stargirl and STRIPES. And Green Arrow. And Crimson Avenger. OK, OK, I want a Seven Soldiers of Victory episode. Although, I guess, since there’s no sign of Speedy, Stuff or Wing, we’re back to the Seven Soldiers Less One. Which, judging by Morrison’s 7S, is bad luck.)
Task force X doesn’t air for another week here, but I am looking forward to the rest of the season.
I was looking at Kevin Conroys homepage for the Batman Begins thread and he is quoted as saying that Cartoon Network has signed for a 3rd season of JLU. So that give a chance for these long range story arcs to really develop.
I eagerly await the episode where Doomsday escapes the phantom zone, because you know it is coming.