Good news? Titus Welliver is probably the best onscreen portrayal of Lex Luthor. And this is coming from someone who _likes_ Jon Cryer on 'Supergirl'. He's subtle, doesn't overplay the bald card, and is less the maniacal cackling supervillain of a Cryer or Hackman. I would consider Clancy Brown from the animated series as Welliver's as the closest, but Brown only did voice work. Welliver captures both the physical appearance and the voice, as well as the personality in general.
The script helps, as Lex isn't going up Superman for once but his pitting his wits and manipulating his "creation", Connor. Taking Superman off the board for an off-world mission seems kinda cheap, but it gives writer Richard Hatem the opportunity to put Lex up against someone other than his arch-nemesis, so it works out as a plot.
I also liked Lex sparring with Kory. Not only was Lex calmly eating while Kory beats his way through his security guards. But there was also the two of them chatting about Komand'r taking the throne of Tamaran, and Lex trying to get a rise out of Kory. Not only does she not rise to the bait, but she masterfully turns it around on Lex.
The bad news is that since Lex gets taken out like a chump, presumably we won't get to see Welliver as Lex again. Never say never, I suppose. Lex could have had a contingency plan, or we could see him in a flashback.
The overall bad news is that the rest of the plot, with Sebastian and Ms. Bennett and Azarath in general, is kind of muddles. We aren't given any reason to be involved with Sebastian. Sebastian runs a taxidermy shop and creates video games and has a big presentation coming up. Bennett helps Lex and then he kicks her to the curb.
Okay, this presumably will make more sense in future episodes. But I'm not watching those episodes, I'm watching this one. I want a reason to be interested in all of this _now_. World-building is great, but not at the expense of character development and an interesting story.
The Gar thing, with him getting a new outfit and a display of his abilities and his vision of the Tree of Skulls, is a good example of how they made the character interesting now and built a story. I just wish Hatem has put as much effort into Sebastian or Bennett. Like or don't like Jonathan Crane last year, at least the writing team put some effort into him on an episode-by-episode basis last year. I think he and Jason tended to jump motivation-wise from episode to episode, but at least the effort was there. This episode, not so much with Sebastian and Bennett.
The Titans themselves finally displayed why they consider themselves a _family_. I kinda miss Donna and Hawk, and where the heck is Dawn and Ravager? But I suppose seeing the core six members hanging around and being the core so that they don't keep rotating in and out is good. More Kory and Gar and Rachel and Connor isn't a bad thing. Moving the show to background, and ditching Jason, lets the production staff focus more on the team. The characters mentioned above all seemed peripheral last season to Nightwing and Jason and Crane and Gotham.
The integration of Kory (Lex's interest in her) and Gar (his visions of the Tree and the... Red?) is a good example. Last year we never really got much of the rest of the team because most of it was about Dick and Jason.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. What do you think?
The script helps, as Lex isn't going up Superman for once but his pitting his wits and manipulating his "creation", Connor. Taking Superman off the board for an off-world mission seems kinda cheap, but it gives writer Richard Hatem the opportunity to put Lex up against someone other than his arch-nemesis, so it works out as a plot.
I also liked Lex sparring with Kory. Not only was Lex calmly eating while Kory beats his way through his security guards. But there was also the two of them chatting about Komand'r taking the throne of Tamaran, and Lex trying to get a rise out of Kory. Not only does she not rise to the bait, but she masterfully turns it around on Lex.
The bad news is that since Lex gets taken out like a chump, presumably we won't get to see Welliver as Lex again. Never say never, I suppose. Lex could have had a contingency plan, or we could see him in a flashback.
The overall bad news is that the rest of the plot, with Sebastian and Ms. Bennett and Azarath in general, is kind of muddles. We aren't given any reason to be involved with Sebastian. Sebastian runs a taxidermy shop and creates video games and has a big presentation coming up. Bennett helps Lex and then he kicks her to the curb.
Okay, this presumably will make more sense in future episodes. But I'm not watching those episodes, I'm watching this one. I want a reason to be interested in all of this _now_. World-building is great, but not at the expense of character development and an interesting story.
The Gar thing, with him getting a new outfit and a display of his abilities and his vision of the Tree of Skulls, is a good example of how they made the character interesting now and built a story. I just wish Hatem has put as much effort into Sebastian or Bennett. Like or don't like Jonathan Crane last year, at least the writing team put some effort into him on an episode-by-episode basis last year. I think he and Jason tended to jump motivation-wise from episode to episode, but at least the effort was there. This episode, not so much with Sebastian and Bennett.
The Titans themselves finally displayed why they consider themselves a _family_. I kinda miss Donna and Hawk, and where the heck is Dawn and Ravager? But I suppose seeing the core six members hanging around and being the core so that they don't keep rotating in and out is good. More Kory and Gar and Rachel and Connor isn't a bad thing. Moving the show to background, and ditching Jason, lets the production staff focus more on the team. The characters mentioned above all seemed peripheral last season to Nightwing and Jason and Crane and Gotham.
The integration of Kory (Lex's interest in her) and Gar (his visions of the Tree and the... Red?) is a good example. Last year we never really got much of the rest of the team because most of it was about Dick and Jason.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. What do you think?