Review: Supermansion “Brokeback Saturn”

The Dark Iron Knightfall Man Rises Beyond. Also, Leprechauns.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

It’s a typical day in Storm City for Cooch until her worst fear is realized: Leprechauns are real, and they’re taking over. The mansion isn’t doing much better, having to take care of debilitated Black Saturn, and some are more into it than others. The authorities are baffled by this (which is a little hard to believe considering the live in a world with robots, cat people, and were invaded last year by an army of super-folks from underground), but Rex doesn’t see the need to get involved until Devizo’s League starts getting the spotlight. Cooch prepares for war, Courtney is made the temporary new Black Saturn in a new mech suit, and Sgt. Agony arrives to tell American Ranger about Portia’s recent odd behavior so he can help, and so Keagan Michael Key can talk to himself. Which is fine, because he’s very good at that.

The team soon catches up with a trio of “Chauns” (at least one possibly voiced by Dan Stevens of “Legion” fame), but their attention is then diverted by a Medusa…or “MacDusa” if the closed captions are correct, which comes right the hell out of nowhere and is swiftly handled by Courtney getting its gaze to fall on a reflective surface, stoning herself. Saturn becomes increasingly frustrated that his sidekick is upstaging him, being pushed to his limit once Courtney starts attacking the Groaner and paying back the abuse he took at the start of the season. Finally recovering just enough, Saturn revives his “Mange” villain identity in order to get him out of the suit and kick his ass.

Agony takes Ranger to Portia (with the return of Yvette Nicole Brown!), who blames her downfall on being filmed helping Ranger with a gimp-fest to help him divorce his wife last season but soon begins displaying Exorcist-ish tendencies, including glowing eyes and floating in the air. The leprechauns also show up to jump through the open portal to who knows where, followed shortly by Cooch, who also goes in. The rest of both teams arrive to see the activity and are soon greeted by the Gods’ Mother, mother of Portia’s superhero identity, Zenith, who tells them they must go through to save both their worlds. To be continued…

OUR TAKE

Okay, who in the writers’ room was really invested enough in Cooch to say “hey, let’s make her stupid and unfunny fear of leprechauns into the premise of an actual episode!” This is the second of five episodes so far that have been started by a Cooch-related plot, and the second of those two where Cooch is still the weakest element of the episode. Yeah, she brings up leprechauns sometimes, and it’s a consistent character trait of hers, but did this really warrant an episode plot?

Though in terms of positives, I am glad to see they haven’t completely forgotten about Portia…even if she’s only back to show just how much of a sorry state she’s in. Didn’t appreciate needing to go through more tired American Ranger shtick to get there, but it looks like we’ll be seeing more of Zenith’s world next time, and maybe Zenith herself if the fates allow.

And I’d be at risk of losing my comic nerd card if I didn’t point out all the references to actual well known comic stories, in particular, the Batman story Knightfall, where the caped crusader has his back broken by now famous villain Bane in his first appearance. He’s then replaced by side character Azrael, who takes a more violent approach to crime fighting and starts ruining Bats’ hero rep until he returns to the role once recovered. The difference here being everyone already hates Black Saturn and Courtney taking on the role could ONLY have been an improvement, but because Saturn is so petty (and possibly because of his weird feelings toward Groaner), he steps in and takes back the mantle by force, even reusing his Bane-like Mange identity, which also uses easily parodied voice from Dark Knight Rises. This was likely all very gratifying for fans who are aware of what these scenes are referring to, and hold comedic weight without them (which is what makes a serviceable parody in the first place), but I can’t help but wonder how much better this all would’ve landed a decade ago, or even six years ago when Dark Knight Rises actually came out.

But yeah, next week is already the finale, with a big explosive battle in some fairyland. Honestly, I can’t say I could’ve seen this coming. Hopefully, we can see some resolution to the whole situation with the two leagues, along with the Saturn and Groaner evolving relationship, and whatever they can cram in with Lex. I don’t THINK they can fit all of that in, but I can hope.