Justice League Unlimited – Episodes – Season 2, Episode 10 – Flashpoint

To avenge a fallen comrade, Superman declares war on Cadmus.

Review by Bird Boy
Media by Bird Boy
Pans by Borg4of3

Voices:
Carl Lumbly as J’onn J’onzz
George Newbern as Superman
Michael Rosenbaum as Flash
Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor
CCH Pounder as Amanda Waller
Kin Shriner as Green Arrow
Jeffrey Combs as The Question
Chris Cox as Captain Atom
Amy Acker as The Huntress
Nicholle Tom as Supergirl
Robert Forster as President

This season of Justice League Unlimited has been epic: epic in story, epic in characters, epic in animation and epic in direction. It’s been such a great season and I hate to see it come to a close. At the same time, the curiosity of what happens next wants me to flash forward to next week.

This was the perfect companion to last week’s episode. It picks up right where it left off and the battle between Captain Atom and Superman was great. The key point to remember in this fight was that Superman didn’t want to fight Atom; this is made even more evident at the end, when Superman tells the Cadmus guards and doctor to “back off! He’s Justice League.” The look on Superman’s face as she scoops up his friend emotes exactly what he’s feeling: he just beat the crap out of one of his best friends.

Another revelation in this episode was the true face of The Question, which looks a lot like his “Fearful Symmetry” appearance. The Huntress / Question relationship deepens and there’s a few touching scenes. Say what you will about McDuffie’s writing, but I’ve yet to dislike any of his Justice League
Unlimited stories and the past two have been nothing short of amazing.

The music took another step up in this one as well. Ritmanis delivers another very orchestral sounding (as opposed to the sometimes noticeable synthesized sounds we’re used to) score to the episode. The music carried the scenes along brilliantly. I hope Warner releases a soundtrack to these shows someday; theres so much music I’d love to hear without the dialogue, action or sound effects over it.

Animation was superb in this episode. I was a bit annoyed at the shaky-camera fights, as Joaquim dos Santos seems to use those in every episode since Cat and the Canary. True, it makes you feel like you’re in the action, but it still feels gimmicky. One really nice camera move I enjoyed, however, was Superman’s dive off the Watchtower bridge and out into space.
There’s a real nice, delayed camera swoop over the edge of the bridge that follows Superman.

Overall it was another great episode in the arc. I know I said it last week, but no matter the outcome of this story—cheap or a sweet payoff—the lead up to it has been freakin’ amazing.