holy sideblog batman

Karen and Mal, for example - they tried to shoehorn in some relationship drama between them, when we for the most part know literally nothing about either of them? I’M interested but only bc i know them from other media. In the context of the show, they were both introduced this season, after a time skip where they met and joined the team offscreen, and we never get any flashbacks to explain who they are or why we should care.

Yes, Karen was technically in s1 as a background cheerleader, but you would literally never know that unless you ALREADY knew that Girl Named Karen = Bumblebee. In fact, another random s1 cheerleader named Wendy ALSO appears in s2 and i had to google who she was because i was like…am i supposed to know her? am i supposed to have remembered her from the maybe 5 mins total screentime she has in s1? Apparently, Wendy and that random kid Marvin are also both comic references! That’s cool! But without comic knowledge to make their initial cameos stand out, their presence in the show is just confusing.

And that is a very SMALL example of something that happens across the whole show and across plotlines and across characters. They randomly have Clark call Conner "Kon-El" and like...I know the significance of that. But if you don't know Kon in the comics or if you don't know Clark is Kal-El (because i don't think they ever call him that in the show?) then. you'd have no idea? I get it's a comic book show made for comic book fans but...you still have to. explain things. Same with, like. Roy & Jade having a kid. in theory i knew that would happen. so my shock was more "OMG LIAN!" but i imagine to those without comic knowledge it'd be more "they actually got together??? and had a CHILD??????" only for them to not interact for most of the season like ok. then why does Lian even exist. you couldve had the whole “royjade save original roy” stuff without Lian at all.

And with other major plot points, like The Reach—yknow, the core plot of the season—i’m not sure how much i would’ve understood if i didn’t already know what The Reach’s general deal is from other media. in fact i'm still kind of unclear. Why did they implant those planet-destroyer devices everywhere if their plan was to take it over? whatever. i dont care

Then there’s the many, many other plotlines introduced in season 1 only to be dropped in the time skip, as well as plotlines introduced in season 2 only to be immediately waved away or resolved.

For example: Jaime’s whole “turning to The Reach” story:

Ep 11: Halfway through the episode, Jaime and Bart agree to keep Evil Future Jaime a secret. Oooh! It will be interesting to see how this plays out! Except…the end of the episode is Jaime telling everyone anyway. So why even have that scene with him and Bart?

Ep 12: They try to remove Jaime’s scarab and Green Beetle appears

Ep 13: Green Beetle “fixes” Jaime’s scarab

Ep 14: Ends with the reveal that Jaime has been Reached. But it was literally…one episode…of build up. This could’ve been interesting, seeing Jaime slowly acting more and more out of character over multiple episodes or missions. Instead we immediately find out. Why not just tell us at the end of the previous ep?

Ep 15: At the end, Jaime turns on the team. This show HATES dramatic irony. Once we know something, the characters immediately need to know, too.

Ep 16: “Oh!” I thought. “Well, Dick still doesn’t know! Surely this episode will be him investigating and figuring it out! Seeing as he’s here, investigating!” Silly me. Instead, The Reach go on TV and say “here’s our new operative, Blue Beetle!” … WHY even have Dick investigate, then???? Why have Jaime be ‘undercover’ in the YJ team working for The Reach when we don’t even actually get to SEE him being undercover for more than maybe 15 minutes?

Ep 18: This is the next time we see Jaime. Now, I thought he would break away from The Reach’s control by finally coming to a compromise and true partnership with the scarab and forcing out The Reach when they tried to kill his friends or something. No, no, instead there’s just…a convenient magic spell Zatanna’s been "working on for months" (???) that breaks Jaime AND Green Beetle out of it. Whatever. I didn’t want to see the constant arguing btwn Jaime and the scarab be resolved conclusively and satisfyingly anyway!

Ep 20: Jaime’s like “i’m not alone! me and the scarab are united! #teamwork!” like ok FINALLY we are getting this scene of him using his strength of will to defeat Black Beetle but that should’ve happened multiple episodes ago and i still don’t buy into it because, like i said, jaime & the scarab never actually resolved anything? we never saw them work out their issues and grow as a unit, the scarab just randomly was like “yay i prefer you over The Reach”

And I love Jaime! I think this kind of story is interesting! I just wish it was given more time so that the conclusion could be more impactful. They kept The Reach a “mystery” for so long that it was detrimental to the pacing of the second half of the season. Jaime’s stuff alone could’ve been a whole season. Same with Virgil & his squad of heroes:

Ep 10: I went IS THAT VIRGIL?????!!!!!!!! OMG we are going to see him grow into his powers!!!!

Ep 11: IMMEDIATELY, he says “they started out with…static shocks” and he just has powers. i had to laugh

Ep 14: The next time we see Virgil. He & the other kids run away from STAR Labs and at the very end get a business proposition from…Lex Luthor! Gasp! This will surely be an interesting story about them figuring out who to trust and what it really means to be heroes!

Ep 17: The NEXT next time we see Virgil. They do one (1) onscreen mission for Lex and then immediately Arsenal is like “he’s evil and using you” so they quit. ONE episode. And they have to be TOLD Lex is using them instead of figuring it out themselves. Why even have Lex be involved at all ???

The answer, of course, is that they needed an excuse for The Light to acquire the Whatever The Fuck Crystal for Warworld, which was introduced in Ep 15 (out of 20) and has suddenly became the most crucial location in the show and also, by pure happenstance, is now essential to The Reach’s invasion plans and whatever other sinister thing The Light was planning. Only for Savage to just…fly it away to Apokolips at the end so that next season they can get to the Darkseid plot they’ve CLEARLY wanted to do since s1. I'm sorry but. Warworld showing up in the first place was just bad writing and pure plot convenience and continued to be so for the rest of the season.

Now, I know they COULD write consistent stories that run throughout the whole season, because they did it with Kaldur. I really enjoyed his storyline (as usual. because he is the best character.) and think he has some of the strongest episodes even when they fall prey to these same weaknesses.

Ep 3: We find out Kaldur's with Black Manta and is his son. They let the fact that he's working for Black Manta sit for a while, which is good! I got to be utterly appalled at the fact that they turned him evil and stewed in my rage because i firmly believed he would NOT do all that. and yet here he is, doing all that.

Ep 7: And when he kills Artemis? like. i knew she couldn't possibly be dead but they GOT ME with the reveal that he's been undercover this whole time. I will note, however, that Kaldur's not actually IN most of the episodes that are between Finding Out He's Evil and Finding Out He's Deep Undercover, so the jump between them does feel fast. i think the reason this didn't irk me as much is because...i didn't want him to be evil. whereas with the other plot points mentioned i DID want to see all the stuff that they just immediately move past.

Ep 9-10: Now that we know he's undercover, we see quite a bit of Kaldur actually Doing Undercover Things! We get the recap of fake-killing Artemis (in ep 7). We get him blowing up Mount Justice & him being introduced to The Light (in ep 9). We see him gathering intel on The Reach base (ep 10). Amazing. We are seeing his plot actually happen ONSCREEN and it feels appropriately drawn out.

Ep 10: Then Kaldur gets brainwiped by M'gann. This distressed me a lot because I was like...oh no! A major event with lasting consequences! I enjoyed how this made M'gann have a crisis over her powers, and in turn eventually led to her capture & forced Dick to reveal to Conner and La'gaan that Kaldur is good and Artemis is alive. They're right to be mad at Dick for keeping it a secret!

Except...Dick still doesn't tell the rest of the team. Because if he did—looking at this from an outside-the-show perspective—then Jaime would know, meaning The Reach would eventually know, and that isn't allowed to happen until Ep 19 bc the plot needs to plot.

ALSO, we don't even really see Kaldur in his brainwiped condition very much at all before M'gann comes in and fixes him right up and then escapes, all without blowing Artemis & Kaldur's covers. All without lasting damage to Kaldur's psyche. Not that I WANTED lasting damage, but. Seems like the kind of thing that should be more impactful.

But I like Kaldur and he's back so I won't complain! And his story goes all the way from ep 3 to the end, where he has a battle with Black Manta & reclaims his position on the team, both of which we FEEL the true impact of because we’ve had all season building up to those moments and they feel earned.

Last gripe - if we DO ever go back to some of the unaddressed threads from s1 (conner’s come to mind - the other kryptonian clone, the fact that conner doesn’t have full powers but COULD with those lex patches), then we’re gonna have to waste even more time recapping stuff from season 1, especially because there were multiple real life years between seasons 1/2 and 3/4.

But that's assuming they actually address any of that which...I'm beginning to doubt. seeing as they spent season 1 building up so much that got ENTIRELY skipped over - how leadership transitioned from kaldur to dick; a bunch of heroes growing up or starting out or quitting (dick nightwing, gar beast boy, karen bumblebee, babs batgirl, cassie wonder girl, jaime blue beetle, wally and artemis retiring); wally and artemis having a full season of buildup only to jump to living together in s2, and then we don’t even get to see their relationship anyway because artemis very quickly goes undercover and then wally DIES (which was so anticlimactic btw but yknow what. it still made me sad and i’ll give them points for introducing the “wally is slower than barry & bart” thing earlier this season even though that’s the dumbest thing i’ve ever heard. wally “fastest man alive” west. is slower than barry and bart. whatever).

and seasons 1 and 2 are supposed to be the BEST seasons? ... oh boy. and like, ugh! there is some good stuff in here! some things get me kicking my feet and giggling! and i admit i went into the show already expecting to be annoyed by how they butcher half the characters. but i was willing to overlook that if the plot and storytelling and character development made up for it and they just...haven't. except for Kaldur!