Justice League – The Secret Society (Pt. 1 & 2)

While the strain of working so closely together begins to tear apart the
Justice League, Gorilla Grodd returns and forms a tightly-knit group of villains – a Secret Society whose only goal is the destruction of the
League.

Media by Bird Boy
Review by Alba Aulbath

Voices:
Kevin Conroy as Batman
Maria Canals as Hawkgirl
Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman
Phil LaMarr as Green Lantern
Carl Lumby as J’onn J’onzz
George Newbern as Superman
Michael Rosenbaum as Flash
Powers Boothe as Grodd
Ron Perlman as Clayface
Ted Levine as Sinestro
Brian George as Parasite
Steve McHattie as The Shade
Jennifer Hale as Giganta

This episode had a lot of qualities and a lot of fix-ups needed. Good and bad, and you can’t expect anything perfect, after all. But, anyway
— onto the points.

The Good:

1.) Conflict in the Justice League. It’s amusing, because you realize that maybe they’re all being overly sensitive. But then again, when you hear Grodd stating that he only unlocked the door to their "moodiness", so to speak, then you realize… there seriously are a lot of problems that still need to be worked out in the Justice League between the members, and it could even be problems later in the future.

2.) The Secret Society. I really loved Giganta’s appearance, because it’s such a big difference to when I last saw her (in Superfriends; let me admit now, I’m a bit more of an animation fan than comic books. Check out her old appearance here. She’s much more feminine here, and in some ways, cute. ("I’m not sure if this is such a good idea…!" and "I’m heavier than I look!") But she *knows* she’s also hot stuff. And I don’t really know who Killer Frost is, but I got a great impression from her here. She’s only interested in killing, and you can see it in her eyes.
It’s really awesome. I’m always a Parasite fan, and of course Grodd;
Shade’s got style, and the reappearance of Sinestro was nice. Grodd made
*sure* that they could count on each other with trust tests, and training. They worked together, and that’s always a problem with an
Injustice Gang or a Legion of Doom. They always *argue*. This was a nice change, especially since Grodd is a very intelligent guy. Lex is a good boss, but not fit for leadership. Grodd is a natural leader, although a bit too much of a dreamer. (Kill ’em with viewers; real bright, Grodd.
Villains never learn…)

3.) Fight sequences. Okay, maybe they were boring to *some* people, but
I thought at the end with the very Superfriends-esque Villain vs. Hero scene, the animation for the start of the battle was INSANE. It was amazing, and I loved it. Kudos to the animators for their patience for that, because frankly, it must be a killer to have to animate J’onn and
Clayface constantly morphing around in battle. I’d go mad with that kind of work.

4.) One-liners. I mean, Batman had a nice few. Everyone knows that.
Plus, of course, Flash’s humor never ceases to amuse me, being that I’m sadly a huge Flash fan. (Oh, wait, I’m *proud* of it, har har) And there’s another possible link to Hawkgirl’s backstory with that "I’d give my life for you!" scene she and John has. Grodd, of course, was also quite witty. A favorite villain of mine, I hope to see him again.
Of course, I really adore the "refined, intelligent" villains, like him and Ultra-Humanite. Heh heh… I wonder if the two will ever run into each other…

5.) Future…? I mean… through the course of the episodes lately, you see GL/Hawkgirl getting closer, Flash actually using his brain and being a big part of help, Superman getting more stressful… it makes you wonder. Was "A Better World" really another world, or in some ways, the future? The suit AU Superman wears in that episode reminds me of the one he wears in Justice League Unlimited in Batman Beyond, and in Batman
Beyond, Bruce says that he keeps the kryptonite around because of what
"happened last time". I dont’ know if this makes reference to an episode of Superman I missed or something (I don’t think he means the whole
Darksied thing, either), but it could even mean events like "A Better
World" *could* happen, Batman realizes it, and stops Superman before he can really do anything… And now in *this* episode, we see the group drifting… there are problems about. Hmm, interesting…

Or I’m making a bigger deal out of nothing. Har har.

The Bad:

1.) I’m a big stickler about endings, and normally, the DC universe of animation seems to have a hard time with them. They’re abrupt, dark, leaves you hanging… but sometimes, I understand, that’s just how life is, and the cartoon will show that well. But this season, I’m noticing that Justice League has *beautiful* tales to tell, great adventures, great lines, and great plots. The endings, though, normally leave you going "WTF?!?!" This ending was only kind of abrupt and … sad, really.
It wasn’t terrible, mind you, but I was kind of waiting for something…
more. But then, this leaves room to see that there might be problems still left to deal with in the future…

2.) Predictable. Well, that’s also not exactly bad. I mean, you kind of expected that Clayface was J’onn near the end of the episode. You might have even expected something wrong with the Justice League’s mood because they *seemed* to be out of character, where they really were just speaking their mind — bluntly so, and angrily. This isn’t something you can avoid, though; when you know the characters and know their tricks, it’s hard to trick the audience sometimes. What made
"Eclipsed" so amusing was that things got from bad to worse and it was pure *fun*. But, you still expected it to get worse, because that’s just how things go. So, it’s not a bad thing… I just hope to see an episode where I’m like "WHAT?! No way!! What happened?!" and feel good about it.

I suppose that’s the jist of things. There’s probably more to be said, but I’m sure that everyone’s already just about covered it for me. All in all, I thought this was a neat episode. Four stars, in my opinion, because Grodd gets a star all by himself for being Grodd.