Hal Jordan continues to be the Captain Kirk of this sector, and of the Corps.
What They Say:
Heir Apparent – Hal challenges a warrior alien for a princess’ hand.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After events firmed up some of the relationship between Razer and Kilowog while also bringing in Aya as a more active member of the group now that she has a walking physical form to help out, the crew is coming together a bit better as it explores more of this sector while trying to find the Green Lanterns that have gone missing. There’s still some tension on the ship as a lot of it stems from Kilowog as he’s simply not accepting of others in a very easy way, which we’ve seen from his original stance with Hal and then to Razer and now to what Aya is capable of. Of course, like Razer, there are some quirks with how it works on the ship since she knows every single thing that goes on – and is said – on it.
In their quest to find out where more of the Green Lantern rings have ended up in this sector, they now found another on a planet and it’s a kind of gladiator situation that’s going on. While there appears to a be quite the solid and good man that has acquired the ring there, which is what the ring almost always does, it’s the situation itself that’s interesting as there are political pressures going on there. Hal, smooth as ever, does his pick up lines on Princess Iolande, a woman who is managing things as best as she can there as there are those that want the power she has. It’s not a surprise based on the makeup of the world we do see, which has some very John Carter-like elements to it when we see the capital city, that it turns into a gladiator ring match where there are no challengers available to really deal with the main opponent. Which is what gets Hal to step into play since he can’t back down from any sort of challenge.
While Hal has to deal with Kofak and the racing kind of challenge that he has to face, we get to see Razer and Aya trying to track down the new Green Lantern who has gone off on his own all of a sudden. Dulock has a good feel about him from what we saw initially, painting him as the ideal and stoic Green Lantern that the Corps wants, so getting to see more of what’s going on with this world and what he’s all about is important. The balance of the mystery being investigated at the same time that Hal gets closer to the princess while figuring out how to deal with the upcoming tournament is important. This balance is well tended to as we do get a bit of the majesty and beauty of the world, but not enough as it quickly turns to near tragedy as a way for Hal to show off.
In Summary:
The episode brings in some good material as it works through this, though the jousting match that Hal and Kofak goes through isn’t as good as it can be. It does work well overall though as it’s primarily just set up for the struggle that follows as the political side comes into play over who shall rule the planet. It’s not necessarily a convoluted episode, but it is kind of surprising how much they manage to put into it as you’d expect something like this to get a double episode so that it doesn’t feel quite so rushed. With this being the fifth episode, I have to say once again how impressed I am by it with the strides its making. While I wasn’t turned off by the CG animation style like many were when it was first announced and showcased, it’s definitely making big improvements with each episode and this one is no exception in giving us some interesting alien worlds and strong action. The design aesthetics will only grow and change, and I do hope for more varied worlds in terms of colors, , but they’re setting up this particular sector well. This episode did go in some obvious directions but with the kind of cast its using and the mixture of adventure, tension and action it’s hitting all the right notes for me.
Grade: B+
