So, the JLU series finale aired. It was pretty good. The animation was sharp as always and some of the returning characters were surprising, but I'd be lying if I said I was totally satisfied with it. I was hoping that some of the character that popped up during the this season -- The General, King Faraday, Deadman -- would return since their last appearances were so open-ended. Granted the finale didn't really call for them to show up again, but from a story stand-point their returns were called for since the odds of getting closure at this point is nil. Also the big bad, however shocking and fun his final fight against Superman was, came out of left field and deprived the expected all-out brawl between the Justice League and the Legion of Doom. I think the problem with this season was the handling of the Legion.
The whole idea of doing the LoD is so you can have them square off against the Justice League. Of course, not doing this is a nice twist, but having the Legion as anything but direct adversaries for the Justice League is pointless when you don't actually care about any members of the Legion. Most of them were background fodder anyway with no prior animated appearances to draw from, and the few new villains that did get a moment in the spotlight -- Dr. Polaris, Atomic Skull, the Key, Silver Banshee, Sonar - received no development as characters at all. They were basically one-dimensional bad guys with gimmicks. The few villains that did show up from older series -- Metallo, Giganta, Toyman, Sinestro -- were included in episodes so overloaded with material they weren't given any chances to do anything new and lost any uniqueness that made them so memorable to begin with. The one "new" villain (a brief, non-speaking role aside) to pique my interest was Atomic Skull, and that was only because of his natural sounding voice contrasting with the fact he's a huge guy with a flaming green skull for a head.
But really, the big reason why the Legion failed as a season-long arc was that there was no depth to it. Cadmus worked because you had real people with understandable motives who didn't think they were evil -- they felt they had legitimate reasons to fear and strike against the Justice League. The Legion on the other hand, know they're evil. They just about say as much in several episodes. And, unlike Cadmus with it's rich multi-episode endeavors, the Legion only shined in the season premiere that introduced the team and set up the promising premise of an anti-Justice League, the Warlord and Viking Prince episodes that furthered the story and set up the intriguing idea that Grodd was willing to sacrifice members of his team to keep the Secret Society a true secret, the Deadman episode, and then the two part finale. The two other Society appearances throughout the season were either too brief, as in "Grudge Match", or played for laughs, as in "Great Brain Robbery".
The entire season moved away from episode-to-episode developments of JLU's first and second seasons and instead spent either half of the season on separate mini-arcs with the SS. This shift ultimately contributed to the lack of character development through JLU's final thirteen episodes and brought the show back to the arguably less refined style of the original Justice League series. It's frustrating as a fan because I've seen how well they can handle a mature Justice League Unlimited and made the season less satisfying on the whole.
That said, the finale packed a punch indeed with a great many shocks and surprises in the forms of shocking returns and the deaths of several DCAU vets. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it a great deal but the lack of any emotional connection to the characters coupled with the fact that the huge developments called for action over character meant there was little emotional resonance to the proceedings. J'onn's return was a nice touch -- I'd forgotten about him but remember hoping he'd come back during the season -- but Darkseid menacing the world again felt old hat at this point. I got charged up when the Daily Planet was destroyed, but Superman didn't even seem to care, much less worry about Lois Lane and company who were inside when it went down. I felt the same way when Hawkgirl got a spear thrown at her, only to have her shrug it off soon afterwards. What could have been a shocking, emotional moment became a throwaway bit.
So I enjoyed the finale. It was made all the more better watching it on Sean's 42" plasma screen with him, Kerr and Raf, JLU newbies all (and they actually started to like it too!) And with the finale so ends the DCAU proper. Sure there'll be things like the Superman DTV down the line, but I think this is a last real hurrah for these characters. It might not have been my favorite way of closing the curtains, but they still went out with style. Kudos all, and from someone who's been watching since that fateful Saturday in September 1992, thanks for the memories.
