As I’d hoped, a vast improvement over Part 1. Lots more plot, lots more exploration of character—and still a lot of action scenes, but even I’ve got to admit that they were friggin’ awesome.

As Green Lantern pointed out, Hawkman seemed to be a bit more clever than he should be in remote-controlling his armor, but that’s forgivable. Some much-needed character development for Barda in the first scene, as she stubbornly refuses to accept Superman’s guilt, even when the others have. Their first confrontation with Supes was one of the neatest fight scenes this show has had to date—and the desire to find out just what the heck is going on adds to the suspense even more. Terry’s reluctance to kill “the greatest hero who ever lived” is rather poignant (and amusing, as Terry quickly amends his statement to keep from wounding Bruce’s ego).

Bruce is used sparingly but nicely, mostly acting as a plot device more than anything else (letting them know where the Fortress of Solitude is, sending the Batwing to get Terry). I still wish we could’ve seen more of his reaction to what’s been going on, perhaps at least one scene with him talking / reminiscing with Supes, or something…but since the whole rest of the episode was so cool, I’ll let it go. =)

We also still don’t have any idea what happened to Supes post-“Legacy” (aside from the fact that he was captured by some sort of “alien collector” at some point, and later possessed by an evil starfish). I really, really hope that if / when we get a forth season, and Superman becomes a more major character, we’ll be learning more about what he’s been up to, how his public standing is at the moment, etc.

The Fortress of Solitude scene, again, is very well-paced and builds up suspense so thick you could cut it with a spork. Then we go into the whole “starfish” plot, and…whoa.

Well, I didn’t want them to use a cliché (i.e., some villain’s been controlling him, or he was brainwashed, or something). I figured someone was controlling him, but they managed to give it a whole, unexpected angle with this backstory, which was, quite frankly, weird. But I thought it was really cool at the same time.

The idea of the “collector” was spoooooky, and his design and the fact that we never learn much about him add to his creepiness. One wonders what exactly his capturing of Superman entailed (and if Metropolis survived in one piece =X). And his sudden, unexpected transformation when Superman escapes gave me a bit of a start. Pretty cool. [Several people have pointed out that the bit was lifted from the Superman episode "The Main Man." I vaguely recall it...guess I'm gonna hafta dig through my old tapes now.]

Liked the irony of Superman’s compassion for the animals proving to be his undoing. The thought that the thing had been in control of him for years before the others knew is rather unsettling—just goes to show, you never know your friend’s been possessed by an evil starfish until it’s too late.

The sight of the room full of starfish-thingees sent chills up my spine. The way the JLU members walked with the starfish clinging to their faces looked absolutely ridiculous. The scene with Superman chasing Terry will go down as one of the most memorable scenes in BB’s history. Liked his crack, “Can it go faster than a speeding bullet?” (although I’m surprised Terry even knows what a bullet is, since lasers seem to be the preferred weapon of choice in the future). The camera movements here were on-par with any current-day D*sney theatrical material—the super-quick zooms and ducks of the camera were—well, just really, really cool. And was the splitting of the Batwing. Whoa.

Lots more action and suspense after Supes is defeated and they fight the others…Terry covered by starfish—will ge make it? Aaahh—edge of my seat! Superman’s “He knew what he was getting into” seems a bit out-of-character (sounds more like Bruce’s mentality ;).

Then we set the starfish people free (yayyy!). The ending raises the question of whether or not Terry will become a full-time member. This was originally intended as a season finale, to lead into the possible forth season, where he will / would be a full-time member. Guess since they decided to air it for November sweeps, it’ll kinda throw everything off (i.e., Terry’s gonna go for another half-season fighting solo before we finally do see the JLU again?). But after this episode, I agree 100% with Hatter that not allowing them to do a forth season would be a crime. So, so, sooo much potential. Geesh…they renewed Jackie Chan and X-Men for next year already…do BB, do BB!

At any rate…*ahem*…wow, that was one of my longer and less coherent reviews. =X But anyhow, I was very enthusiastic about this one. Was also glad to see that Superman really isn’t more bitter than he was in our day—it just seemed so because the fish was controlling him. He’s still the same old caring, nice-guy type. And the voice seemed to change when the starfish was removed to reflect the personality change—the reading became much less stilted and Shatner-esque, and much more like a more mature version of Daly’s original voice. So I’m assuming that was intentional.

Also loved the ending, with Superman remarking how much Bruce & Terry do have in common (even if neither one of them wants to admit it ;). Terry is growing on me more and more by the episode—he’s definitely becoming more Bruce-ish, but maintains that smartass teenager quality.

Very good, very good…me likee a lot.
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