Season Review: Freedom Fighters: The Ray Season One

Shine On You Ray-zy Diamond.

DC’s at it again with another animated series, which is good because they really need a win after Justice League bombed. This time, it’s another spin-off of CW’s Arrowverse shows (much like Vixen from 2015 and 2016) but with a different focus. Unlike Vixen (who I just found out had their first season’s villain voiced by Tiana from Princess & the Frog HOW DID I MISS THAT), whose protagonist started as an animated character who then got to come to live action, The Ray has already been in the live action shows. Specifically the most recent crossover “Crisis on Earth X”, which saw Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow all team up to fight counterparts of themselves and their friends from Earth X, a universe where the Nazis won World War 2, and not the even-more-pathetic tiki-torch-wielding kind of Nazi. The Ray first appeared in this event, presumably being from that universe and in a relationship with Earth X’s version of Flash villain Captain Cold.

Given what happens at the end of that whole thing (certain parts of which I’ll probably spoil through this review), it seems this show takes place before then. Though while the production schedules of both Vixen seasons seemed pretty smooth and got them released either before or at the start of their respective television seasons, we only got a release date for The Ray at the beginning of this past week, and right after the midseason finales of its non-animated contemporaries. For a series that was essentially a prequel to a hyped up TV event, you’d think they would have used it as a weekly build up to that event. And on top of all that, six episodes dropped at once, but based on how the last one ends, it can’t possibly be the end of the season. But you’ll see what I mean when we get into this:

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Earth X. 2017. Tulsa, Oklahoma. Nazi tanks roll through the devastated streets as loudspeakers order the turning over of “undesirables”, or they will be destroyed. Citizens try to flee or fight off the tanks but are cornered and defenseless…until the arrival of the Freedom Fighters: Black Condor, Phantom Lady, Doll Man, Red Tornado, and of course, The Ray. The group cover the refugees against the “Rikers” (Reichsman) and manage to hold them off. Condor delivers justice from above, Tornado blows them away, Doll Man takes them down a peg with his shrinking, and Phantom Lady makes them…see the dark with her making-darkness ability (I couldn’t come up with a good phrase). The refugees are safe, but not for long as Overgirl (basically evil Supergirl) shows up along with Black Arrow (Green Arrow) and Blitzkrieg (Flash). They seem evenly matched, but the Fighters soon lose the upper-hand as Overgirl tears Tornado apart. With his remaining energy, he manages to give his Neural Cortex, which houses knowledge on the group’s secret base, to Ray in order to get it away from the Reichsman. Ray hesitates, but accepts. To ensure his escape, another Fighter, Vibe, makes the injured Ray a portal to Earth 1 as he watches his friends fighting and dying to protect him.

Earth 1. 2017. Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plane. Ray Terrill is an idealistic young social worker at Tulsa Fair Housing, helping out a Muslim mother who suspects discrimination keeping her family from buying an apartment. He plans a big presentation to his boss including a big uplifting speech that will get him to vote for fair housing laws that don’t allow discrimination like this to happen. He’s nervous, but his Condor-haired friend John snarkily tells him to relax while his Phantom-y coworker Jenny alerts him that the boss is here. He gets a few words into his speech before he’s cut off, only to find out his whole department is being shut down because of shady politics. Drowning his sorrows at a bar, Ray frets over losing his job as well as his inability to properly come out to his conservative parents as gay. Things could not get worse for Ray Terrill…until a yellow armored glowing figure comes stumbling and bleeding out of a portal. Yep, it’s Ray-X. Ray-1 tries to call an ambulance but X just hands him the Cortex and dissipates into light which gets sucked into 1.

Ray poorly tries to explain this to John, who is thoroughly unconvinced until the Cortex starts glowing to reveal a hologram of Red Tornado. He promptly delivers the crucial exposition about alternate worlds, specifically Earth X and identifying this Earth as Earth 1. Sidenote, but who decided THIS was Earth 1? I mean, every universe most likely started off thinking THEY were Earth 1, but all agreed on the numbering (and lettering) a long time ago somehow. Anyway, Tornado fills Ray and John in on what the Cortex is and why the Reichsman shouldn’t have it, so it has to be destroyed. And then he decides to die so that he can’t possibly be of further help. Ray decides HE wants to be the idiot for a change and figures it’s WAY TOO COOL to destroy, so they put it off while he gets a hang of the superhero lifestyle with his newly gained powers. First step, naturally, is stopping muggers and bank robbers, testing out his powers and finally gaining the confidence to ask out that cute guy he and John met at the bar earlier, all while gaining a sweet reputation. And given the lack of Oklahoman superheroes, it’s not that hard to get all the attention. Especially the attention of The Flash’s Cisco Ramon (Earth 1’s Vibe) and Caitlin Snow, who notice the high levels of radiation suddenly coming from the middle of nowhere.

Back on Earth X, the Reichsman track down their Vibe and figure out where their Ray went with the Cortex, and back on Earth 1, Ray gets ready for a date but is knocked out by a dart as shadowy figures that are definitely not Cisco and Caitlin stare over him.

OUR TAKE

Yeah, kind of a lot even if it is only 6 5-7 minute episodes. As said, this is very clearly set before the big ol’ crossover, and so I figured this would fill in the blanks regarding where the majority of the Freedom Fighters went and how characters like Blitzkrieg died (replaced by Reverse Flash in the show) and how Black Arrow and Overgirl got together (again, like in the show). Also weird how Red Tornado is seen destroyed here but is later seen in the crossover and THEN destroyed…by Ray. I guess I’ll have to wait till the rest of the episodes drop to understand all this, because with so many plot threads introduced and left unresolved, I just can’t accept this being the entire season.

But besides what was left to expectations, how does what we were given stack up? Well, for starters, the prologue is a bit on the long side. I know some DC shows tend to give their prologues a lot of room (the entire first episode of Superman: The Animated Series being solely devoted to the destruction of Krypton, for example), but it the time on Earth X should have only been the one episode to set the tone before cutting to the more peaceful Earth 1, especially if the plan is to kill the Ray we start with so soon after. I get that it’s easier to grab people’s attention with superheroes fighting Nazis than a twenty-something idealist losing his job, but there must’ve been a way to streamline that better. We don’t even really get enough context on how Ray’s powers work in that time that would tell us that he can transfer them to another version of himself, but even that brings to mind some missed opportunities. If we’re giving Ray-1 these powers this way, why not Ray-X’s memories and experiences too in order to catch him up on everything quicker?

Though that’s not to say there aren’t some positives. For one, the voice acting here is a marked improvement from Vixen’s, with a surprisingly well-done performance from Melissa Benoist as Overgirl (even though comparing it to her in the crossover just feeds my growing worry and suspicion that those stories were written without much collaboration with each other). Carlos Valdez as Cisco is always fun, Matt Mercer does a great Stephen Amell impersonation as Black Arrow, and Russel Tovey’s Ray comes off as young, hopeful, and heroic without being annoying (at least until he puts off easily destroying the one thing that will endanger his life and the lives of his loved ones).

And probably most importantly is the way of handling Ray-1’s life and his own personal journey. While it would have been fun to watch six or more episodes of Ray-X punching and shooting lasers at Nazis, it wouldn’t feel as genuine as seeing Ray-1 simply trying to make a difference with the little power he had. Not that I’m anywhere near close to being able to say what is and what isn’t well written gay representation, but it was pleasantly surprised to see Ray’s normal humdrum life of trying to come out to his parents and having a love life while balancing it with his burgeoning hero work. Vixen never really dove very deep into Mari’s everyday life or background aside from what was necessary to the plot and putting together a hodgepodge of African mysticism, but here I really feel like Ray has a full life he leads when we aren’t watching.

Speaking of which, interviews have confirmed Vixen’s appearance in this show alongside Arrow supporting character Mister Terrific, as well as the dangling Cortex plots and that cliffhanger at the end, so I highly doubt we’re done with The Ray just yet. But for what we have now an alright start.