Superman on Television

Justice League Action: Episode Reviews

Season 1 - Episodes 48: "Barehanded"

Originally Aired: May 30, 2018 (U.S.)

Written by James Krieg and Andy Breckman
Directed by Jake Castorena

CAST:
Kevin Conroy as Batman (voice)
Josh Keaton as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern (voice)
Patton Oswalt as Space Cabbie (voice)
John DiMaggio as Lobo (voice)
Grey Griffin as Navigational System (voice)

After a battle with Kanjar Ro, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), feeling a bit wasted, flies down to an intergalactic fueling station to freshen up. Hal takes his ring off to splash some water on his face. As he leaves he tries using the ring to fly off but the costume disappears and he falls. Realizing he left the ring in the restroom he calls to the ring but nothing happens. He runs in to get it but no ring. Just then he remembers seeing Lobo coming out of a stall in the restroom. Not able to fly after Lobo Hal notices Space Cabbie fueling up and jumps in the cab. They rush after Lobo using Space Cabbie's new "GPS" system and when they reach him he and Lobo tussle only for Hal to discover that Lobo doesn't have the ring. After sending Lobo to Batman for incarceration Hal remembers there was an alien in the restroom as well, so he and Space Cabbie rush back to the fueling station. Will the alien still be there? Will Hal find his ring?

Rating - 3 (out of 5): One thing this show does well is humor. This is a funny episode but that's pretty much all it has going for it. Don't get me wrong it's enjoyable and great to have an episode that features Hal and Lobo fighting it out, but it's undone by a thin plot. I know these are only ten minutes long and aimed towards kids but from time to time it would be nice to get a little substance from these episodes, after all it is the only Justice League series we have currently. Space Cabbie is always a fun character and though I'm not a big fan of Lobo he's used well in this episode. Hal seems a bit flighty. (See what I did there? *collective groan*) Usually he's more serious and level headed but this is more a comedy so I guess we can let that go. It would have been nice to see Hal's fight with Kanjar Ro but the fight with Lobo was fun so we did get some action.

Space Cabbie uses his sentient GPS to go through an unstable worm hole to get back to the fueling station before the alien can leave. Once there Hal spots the two-headed alien and thinking one of the heads swallowed his ring he shoves his hand down the alien's throat. This doesn't sit well with the alien. After ducking from the alien's fire breath and ending up having to kneel to it the alien reveals that it has a ball at the end of its tongue. It didn't swallow the ring. Finally Hal realizes he accidentally knocked the ring down the drain. When Hal and Space Cabbie go looking down the drain a hairball creature that absorbed the ring's energy emerges and grows to enormous size. Hal gently soothes the creature and gets his ring back. After Hal suits up and flies off Batman contacts him and tells him that Lobo mentioned something about Hal leaving his ring in the restroom. Embarrassed Hal pretends there's static in his ear and can't hear Batman and flies off. Meanwhile Space Cabbie's GPS reveals it's a sentient being and being inspired by Hal takes off to learn about the universe.

As always this show brings the humor and keeps things light and speeding along. As long as we don't nitpick too much we can sit back and enjoy the series. I know I can be hard on the show but it's still fun and I look forward to watching.

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