Review: Green Lantern: TAS "Into the Abyss"

I personally consider this episode to be the final part of a four-part premiere. Because at this point, our Avengers have assembled, so to speak.

Green Lanterns! ...get together? Wait, didn't I use that joke on the Guardians of the Galaxy?

Plot
There was surprisingly very little in the way of what you might call "plot." The Lanterns saved a ship. But that's not what this episode was about. This episode was about giving an external conflict to the subplots.

Characters
Hal Jordan
He's the balance between all the characters. He's the level-headed leader to Kilowog's hot-headedness, he's the compassionate hero to Razer's sociopath.

This is not his episode.

Razer
Why is he here?

It's been basically insinuated that he has no love for the Red Lanterns, but why is he as amiable as he is to the Green Lanterns? To be fair, he's barely amiable, but why is he amiable at all?

I get the feeling that Razer, like many emos, is just saying "whatever" to the world around him, because it stops him from having to feel anything but rage. Red Lanterns? Whatever. Prison? Whatever. Green Lanterns? Whatever. But when he goes to save Kilowog, everything changes. His general loathing of everything from the first scene of the episode turns into sardonic wit fueled by annoyance in the last scene. He may not be Mr. Sunshine, but he seems to be waking up inside.

Because Razer is a very internal character, it can be a hard change to see. But it is noticeable, and starts the character on a path away from the whiny, self-interested piece of crap that I saw him as in the last episode.

But I don't think this is his episode.

Kilowog
Kilowog is slow to accept Razer. And this is completely understandable. Remember, Razer admitted to being in charge of setting traps for Green Lanterns. He outright admitted to their murders, by association at the very least. Of course Kilowog's going to have problems with this guy. Not only is he an unrepentant murderer, he assisted in attempted genocide in the second episode. Kilowog, coming from a destroyed planet, probably has a sore spot there.

I believe that Kilowog would have let Razer be sucked into the pinhole. Because this is Frontier Space. While Kilowog wouldn't kill in cold blood, he might decide to enact frontier justice.

While he might not like Razer yet, there is a mutual respect growing. Slowly, but the seed has been planted.

This isn't Kilowog's episode either, though.

Freighter Captain
He has a name, but I forgot it. He's barely a character. He only exists because someone has to drive the baby aliens to their new home at the end.

Nope, not his episode either.

Aya
This is her episode.

This is the moment where she becomes a character. Instead of being JARVIS, she's Data now.

Somehow, Hal's words have stirred her into action. With the way she reacts to people talking about what Green Lanterns need, and what they do, it's obvious where her aspirations lie. Aya wants to be a Green Lantern.

As the Star Trek franchise likes to often tell us, the fundamental trait for humanity is a desire for self-improvement. This is her beginning down that path. In this episode, she makes her first independent choice when she goes over to restart the engine herself. This is her episode. Everything that she ever does, every single way she behaves in the future; the spark for it all is planted here.

Kilowog and Razer might grow as characters in this episode, but Aya grows into a character.

Animation
No, seriously, what was with the ship literally riding the waves around the pinhole? Why was the reddish glow actually matter and not just red shifted energy, or what-the-heck-ever? Why did Hal turn the Interceptor into a boat? I just don't get this aesthetic choice.

Anyway, things seem to be shaping into the show I remember.  Let's see if things continue along this line. See you next time!