jlu- season four

The Fringedwellers' Guide

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Season Four-

Justice League Unlimited

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The Cat And The Canary

Why was I convinced 'Doomsday Sanction' was the season opener? It would have more sense to start with a big Superman episode rather than this.
Wildcat looks like a deformed Batman.
I want my own minutes.
Why is she called Canar... Ah, it'll probably be because of the high pitched tweeting.
Wouldn't it have been better to do that to start with?
It's hard to tell that's Green Arrow without his green arrows.
You have to respect any woman who can spar in a basque and pixie boots. You may not have to respect her for wearing pixie boots in the first place, but still, the skill level's impressive.
She needs to tie her hair back.
Now that sounds like the kind of sport I'd watch. Besides, cage fighting to the death doesn't seem all that far removed from the average rugby match. Apart from the cage.
All of the Justice League are having a mid-life crisis.
There are quite a few "normal" humans in the group.
Green Arrow's impressively bitter at being flirted with for his money.
She thought she could trust him after only meeting him ten minutes ago?
They've animated Wildcat with cauliflower ears. That's an attention to detail you just don't get in other shows
He doesn't look like a Ted.
The Watchtower has a creche? I have a very bizarre image of Wildcat reading a bedtime story to Flash and Stretchy Guy.
A supersonic bird-call is the kind of power you'd always be slightly embarrassed to admit to having
Batman and Green Arrow don't have any super-powers either, and them seem like two of the most effective members the JL's got
If you were going to parade around in front of an audience in nothing but your bra and knickers, you'd think you'd make sure they matched
Do men generally wear tuxedoes to attend illegal fighting events? They always strike me as the type of venues where even trousers are optional.
I'm rather starting to like Green Arrow. He has an almost Bruce-like level of... well, if preparedness was a word then that's what it would be
"Maybe you'd rather fight a woman..." That was low
This is going to be one of those 'I'll let you beat me into a pulp so you can see how much you really hurt people' fights, isn't it?
Green Arrow has a sadly unexplored capacity for irritating people
Wildcat's boots have little claws on them!
Black Canary has to stand in a very undignified position to make that noise
J'onn's in charge of Supervision and Appraisals! J'onn was born to be a line manager. J'onn's the official group therapist? I think I'd rather have the little chat with Bruce

The Ties That Bind

Why do people do things like escapology?
It doesn't make it any less dangerous in rehearsal.
*Has no idea what is going on again* I can keep up with almost all of the rest of the comic backstory, but Apokolips is just completely incomprehensible
Did she just say Darkseid's name was Greg?
And this exposition isn't helping at all...
Everyone should be afraid of something called The Pit. There's not even the slightest possibility is could be a good place
Flash! Flashflashflashflash! Wheee!
I knew Flash would be bitter about all the new people.
Stretchy guy has been around longer than Flash? He's not been in the JL for more time, but Flash is only about eighteen so Stretchy Guy must have been superheroing generally for longer.
You get the feeling this is how J'onn always deals with Flash
Flash looks so sad at not being invulnerable.
J'onn called him Wally!
Aw! "Friends?"
That's a needlessly complex slicing machine
Surely the red Lycra negates the need for suncream? He'd still need to put some on the end of his nose; that's one of the bits that of me that always burns. Batman probably carries factor 50 in his utility belt for just this kind of situation
"Who needs plans?" Flash really is the exact opposite of Batman.
Flash has been practicing the fire tornado in his spare time.
That's an impressively maniacal laugh.
Flash has had these lectures so many times.
J'onn is an awful lot like Teal'c. And they both have random apostrophes in their names.

The Doomsday Sanction

Lex! President!
I need Bruce to stand outside my shower and hand me warm towels. It would improve my mornings immeasurably
Like he couldn't have done that after the shower. Batman can't stop the sneaking.
My picture has gone a very bizarre colour. Is it meant to be shower steam?
"Clark and Bruce's Parallel Universe Adventure". It's the Enid Blyton book that never happened
Batman is trying so hard to be loyal to the JL, but he's so obviously on the other side.
I think Cadmus has a very good point.
This revolving cut-and-pan shot is incredibly disconcerting, especially since nobody seems to be sitting in the same place twice
Oh bless, Flash genuinely believes he's the key to everyone staying on the right side. Oh Flash! In any one else that would be spectacularly egotistical, but he's so right...
Batman and Question must get on so well. They have special evenings where they just sit in the dark and be excessively paranoid together
Super-powered Warthog! The world needs more super-powered warthogs. "Super-powered warthog" is going on the must say list too
It's never a good idea to anger the gene splicing technician.
Who hasn't had that fantasy in meetings at least once?
How did he fall from space into a parallel universe? He didn't. He fell back into this one, the parallel universe Superman was here
And a much better dresser
That may be a little subtle for a lobotomised monster to take in
You can't fault that solution for effectiveness
There are so many reasons that boring through the mountain shouldn't work
This is a spectacularly brutal fight sequence
Doomsday can drive a pod? Shouldn't there be some kind of security to prevent their pods being driven by escaped lunatics?
That's a very well built harbour for a minor volcanic island
Don’t say 'something', say 'Doomsday'.
Of course Batman has the private number, he's Batman. Bruce hijacked the red phone!
J'onn's going to have be having a word with Bruce later about shoving in the corridors
I like "We were going to get to Superman eventually"
How can an "anti-abort" facility possibly be a safety feature?
There should be lava following them out of that hole.
Shouldn't Flash be "getting everyone as far away as you can" already? Isn't that what they're there for?
How is blowing up a nuclear missile inches from the Earth's surface going to help?
That was never going to work twice
Well done on limiting the devastation everyone.
Run Clark! Don't just slump there!
Wow, the giant judgmental dais and the ring of chairs don't seem intimidating and tyrannical at all, do they? If the Justice League want people to believe they're sweet and non-threatening then they need to do something about their interior design
There isn't a chair for Hawkgirl
I love Flash wriggling into shot there. Even animated he's such a scene stealer
Poor injured Bruce. Bruce! All battered and bruised. I wonder who gives him his bed bath? I hope it's Flash wearing a little nurses hat.
Patronising Bruce is not going to help.
Wonder Woman is very badly drawn in this scene
Superman thinks he won't ever become a Justice Lord because when he steps over the line he just creates a new one, and justifies it to himself. Batman steps over the line all the time, but he always knows that he's done it.
Don't just turn the light out. What if he wants to read for a while?

Task Force X

Oh, it's the Deadshot voice... *passes out quietly* Deadshot! With a moustache!
It takes a very brave man to sit in an electric chair; most people would chose to stay standing.
There can't be anything worse than going to the electric chair on a plate of poorly cooked asparagus
Captain Boomerang is a dreadful supervillain name
They don’t just have a schedule, it's colour-coded.
Why are they being picked up in the middle of a field?
They have special uniforms! I so want to be a support service worker at the Watchtower.
I wonder which members of the JL chose the uniforms?
We really need to hear the story of Booster Gold's pants
It's nice that even the staff give Superman a nickname. I wonder if they've got one for Batman yet?
He hid the gun in Flash's energy bars!
I'm not sure I can listen to the Deadshot voice for a whole episode and still retain control of my limbs. I'm just going to end up as a little hormonal puddle on the sofa by the end of this
"My wife's been after Hawkgirl's autograph..." That's so mean!
Even the supervillains know about GL and Hawkgirl
They kept the annihilator intact? If that's not a sign that they shouldn't be in charge, I don't know what is.
There's no way an evacuation this slow would pass a fire safety check
Flagg had to have that written down on a piece of paper?
Only GL would stick to vehicle passenger ratings at a time like this. He's probably making sure they're all wearing their seatbelts too
MR's the gay cowboy!
There's another radioactive-symbol guy?
I love the way Mediaeval Guy has to bang on the door a few times before it occurs to him to try pressing the 'open' button
He broke J'onn! Ewwww!
Where are all the other superheroes? Don’t they have pagers or something?
I love that Bruce is in charge of yelling at the superheroes and J'onn is in charge of yelling at the support staff. It seems to be such a sensible division of labour

The Balance

Bismuth? I'm not sure the annihilator's problem is indigestion
I bet she's regretting that now.
This woman is quite gloriously accented
The Flash has been watching too much daytime TV.
I've never quite figured out how Flash can be so patronising and yet so damn sweet at the same time; "That's an example of exactly the kind of thing we're not going to do anymore, right?"
Flash doesn't like conflict. He's like a child whose parents keep arguing.
I like the look of Wally's lunch. It looks so much more exciting than the pasta
"I had dinner with two women at the same time" Always looking on the bright side.
There's potential for a staggeringly pornographic screencap there
Hermes and Flash are quite wonderfully two of a kind
I do like Diana's cavalier attitude towards the Gods.
She's breaking into Hawkgirl's room?
Oh, that's so not a good idea...
She's losing a fight to the death and she's still going to complain about Wonder Woman turning up?
Shayira expected hell to be cold?
More angels should have that kind of attitude
I'm not sure about the wisdom of putting flaming corpses around all those books
Gahh! Eyes!
Diana was well trained as a child: You don’t shout in a library, whatever the reason.
Don Quixote's evil?
Shayira invokes the power of the librarian.
It's very strange to see Diana and Shayira talking about personal hygiene. GL and Green Arrow maybe, but not Diana and Shayira.
Why send Diana and Hawkgirl right to the one person Faust doesn't want freed?
See? Naked flames + books = Bad
Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman have a very sensible approach to the tormenting of bad guys, "Have a party."
Diana actually believed the sculpting story? If Diana believes you make babies out of clay, then that first date with Bruce is going to be one hell of an eye-opener
Any other show and those two would have hugged and simpered a little and then made up. This is a much more sensible conclusion

Double Date

He puts orange zest in his scones? I'll have to try that. Making scones can be difficult. As I once demonstrated in front of a class of seven year olds I was supposed to be instructing. Don’t ask, it's still painful.
That's clearly a mound of pillows
What's the point in giving the little speech to someone if you don't wake them up first?
Told you
They get demerits? I bet J'onn has a chart. J'onn's angry that she's dismissing the merit system. He spent ages putting together that chart, and buying the little stickers.
She has an actual card!
J'onn has a superhero who he doesn't trust, who he thinks is about to kill someone, and he's sent her out into the world and revoked his only way of keeping track of her. That's just stupid
They have rooms with their names on! Although I'm sure Question would prefer his location be kept secret
He doesn't have an ugly jawline
Well, of course they are, that's why they wear brown. Brownies have to earn those outdoor activity badges somehow
"Criminal acquaintance" isn't a profession with a long life expectancy at the best of times
I'm sure Canary can defend herself.
"Leprechaun" was a mistake
Okay, how does he see to drive?
You know GA really does want to teach him manners
I'm quite impressed she found a straight guy in the JL at all. All the real men in the JL took each other.
Haven't the JL got more pressing matters at the moment than internal squabbling?
That's got to be a decoy key
Green Arrow's not as dumb as he looks, is he?
I like Green Arrow more and more every time we see him. "Are we dead yet..?"
Where did they suddenly get the beaming technology from?
Shouldn't the JL be issued with earmuffs for when she does that?
Blowing all his clothes off can't be an improvement
Ha! Unexpected emotionally critical child!
Shoot him!
They actually said "ill gotten gains"!
What part of him is she kissing there?

Clash

Stretchy Guy! He's all flat!
Both stretchy guys are having a hard time.
J'onn is going to record the date that Batman asked for help. J'onn can be such a prig sometimes. Now is not the time to be making petty jokes about Batman needing a hand
There's another disadvantage of capes
He is! He's blushing!
Superman was on annual leave!
Look at Batman's expression when CM admits to being overwhelmed at meeting Superman! "Nobody's ever over-whelmed at meeting me..."
And stretchy guy, don’t forget stretchy guy.
It would have been so much better if I'd read 'Kingdom Come' the week *after* seeing this instead of the week before; it would have made a whole lot more sense
The Watchtower must be like a schoolboy locker room.
Uh oh, The Table of Doom.
Flash looks incredibly bored at having to sit in an actual meeting. I can't help thinking they should have sat him in a less prominent chair
Bless Flash, looking all embarrassed. They're never going to let Flash forget that endorsement incident
They need to put that in the rules; "Do not use the Javelin unless accompanied by trained pilot. Do not use stationery supplies without signing for them. Do not endorse supervillains for the Presidency"
You'd think Shayira would agree.
Superman is settling into the dictator role quite nicely.
John McGinley is doing a truly awful Southern accent
Lex has a badge that says just that. "Less than admirable"
Clark so has this on tape.
That's a wonderful glower from Superman
Lex is just too good.
Someone needs to explain to Captain Marvel that Clark and Lex have issues. Serious issues
Clark doesn't like it when his dates are arranged via TV.
He usurped Superman's nickname! Superman still gets to be 'Big Blue' though
"I did too, until I met Captain Marvel." Batman's been working on that line for days
All those supervillains must start to blur after a while
This is such a Bruce-and-Clark time to be having this conversation. We don't see Bruce and Clark fighting together often enough. Just having a few more scenes together would be nice
It actually hurt Batman to say that. "He's... sunny." Something is drastically wrong; Batman never approves of sunniness.
What kind of laboratory has gems and valuables casually lying around?
The jewels weren't in the safe too?
Batman and Superman have had this conversation so many times before.
Bruce and Lex are on first name terms?
Clark and Lex are in *exactly* the same emotional relationship as Krypto and Ignatius the Iguana. "Lex must have done it because Lex is *mean*"
Superman jumps to conclusions all the time. He's always jumped to conclusions without evidence
I swear, if my phone rings one more damn time during this episode I'm throwing it through the window. Or possibly unplugging it
Lex is truly good at this political stuff
"There's so much about me you don't know..." That sounded amazingly pornographic
God and now my mobile's ringing too! I only know about five people and every damn one of them has tried to ring in the last twenty minutes. I've got no idea what's going on now
I'm inherently uncomfortable with "experimental fusion" and '"city" in such close proximity
Captain Marvel is refreshingly rational
Batman is going to need his Kryptonite.
He hit Superman with a bus! Wow!
Clark's going to have sand in all sorts of unmentionable places
"It's gloopy. Beyond that, I've got nothing."
Batman looks slightly annoyed in the background. It's him that ends up having to pay for all this.
At least Clark has the manners to check that it's okay to volunteer enough of Bruce's money to rebuild a city
Batman's been holding out for a dramatic moment.

Hunter's Moon

Now there's a woman who's thought about the potential of that ring
GL is such a humourless bastard
Mining unidentified substances. That always goes well
I'm not sure I'm all that fond of leisure-wear!Shayera
That's good advice for most emergency situations. "Don't touch anything"
I don't think there'll be "any question who's leading the mission" at all
"I don't take your love life into consideration. Only Batman's. And that's because he glowers at me if I let Flash go off with anyone else..."
Swedish Hawkwoman!
The gay cowboy's not MR anymore
"I don't do that... I do know how to hit them with a giant mace though. It's worked for me so far."
That was a poorly animated fast-walking sequence
Are cheetahs known for their leaping ability?
Poor confused Vigilante; "I thought we were the ones she betrayed?"
That was an incredibly quick war
Vig is a bit simple, isn't he?
Metal Hawkman has little vestigial wings!
I'm fascinated as to how Vixen's breasts stay in that orange lycra
He said Dagnamit!
Throwing someone who can fly out of a plane seems rather pointless
"You should see his underwear drawer..." I would imagine she probably has

Question Authority

Less talking about carving, more actual carving. It's the way to go
The irritating click in my space bar is back! I thought I'd fixed that
His first name's 'Nathaniel'? Hang on, his last name's actually "Atom"? That's lucky.
Supes and Lois are dating now? Have they been dating on this show before?
That was an oddly Smallville-specific dig at Lana, and Lois sounded a lot like her Smallville incarnation when she said it
I'd love to be asked out on a date that involved breaking into top secret facilities. It's so much more exciting than just dinner
*So many jokes about Lex having the body of a twenty-year-old*
Waller is impressively unmoved by Lex's twenty-year-old naked body
How did they get... Who on earth can get surveillance footage from another dimension?
"Outside of the original members of the Justice League..." and presumably whoever owned that footage
Superman should worry less about Question and more about himself
I adore Lex's indoor sharkaquarium
He broke his aquarium!
"All just to tick Superman off..." I hate to say it, but if I had 75 million dollars to spare, I'd probably spend them on annoying Superman too
Flash?! Lex was the one who... No! Damnit Superman *should* have roasted him!
I'm going to be slightly nervous of shoelaces for the rest of my life now
Don't they have a hotline?
Also Clark's x-ray vision should show that he's not under there

Flashpoint

*confused* It's not supposed to be 'Flashpoint' now is it? I'm fairly certain I need more preparation time for 'Flashpoint'.
*confused again* Why is Captain Atom on the other side?
That's about the third time Superman's been clobbered by someone he thought he'd beaten. He needs to learn to start kicking people when they're down
I don’t think I'd want to go back with Superman if I'd been fighting for the other side.
That's actually a mask? I always wondered
Question's a secret redhead too!
Does Green Arrow wander around in his uniform all the time?
Huntress pulled the blinds so she could sit on the edge of Question's bed and chat quietly? I don't believe that for a second
I love Clark's snippy little aside, "He's doing a pretty good job of it..."
Flash is doing an incredibly smug gay lean in the background
Batman, but with less morals.
"Especially when you're all scowly like that..." He really does! Flash has mentioned the scowliness before, you can tell.
I'm pretty sure Arrow *could* stop them. Batman certainly could
Clark just wants to hit something
Grammy Flash had a point. As she always does.
We don’t know what he's learned either. Damn Toonami and their random scheduling
On the one hand Lex is incredibly sneaky, on the other that's totally the JL's fault.
I love the animated T2-esque pre-impact sequence
They worry about the Watchtower rather than Earth?
I so wish that had been Martian humour...
I so want to hear the rest of that conversation "I know this looks bad: know it looks like we blew up your planet, but we didn't. Well, we did, but it wasn't us. Yes, yes, it was our spaceship, but…
Technically the Government would have to go up. Since the JL are in space
Was the President's personal secretary MR?
You can always rely on Flash to rescue the cat. That's so sweet. "Nobody should have to spend the night in a strange place without their kitten." You just have to hope the strange place comes with a litter box

Panic In The Sky

It *is* your fault
Flash is making an incredibly valid point.
What about the metal guy? Why can't he come?
Why isn't Bruce in on this little chat?
"Space based weapons always de-stable planetary politics". Gee, ya think?
Oh, that's such a bad idea. Well, that's why Bruce wasn't in the meeting. He'd never agree to anything this dumb
Wouldn't they be better off counting on Green Arrow, or Atom, or anyone who wasn't a 12 year old girl?
There's no way Batman is going to...
See, told you.
I don't think Bruce cares about democratic votes all that much
Batman has a copy of the part time contract in his utility belt. It's amazing how handy that 'part time' status comes in when Bruce doesn't want to play with the other superheroes, and how utterly irrelevant it is when he wants to be in charge
It's a good job Batman isn't giving himself up, otherwise there wouldn't be anyone left to prove their innocence.
Flash got to make a Batmobile joke! "That's what I heard."
Well, six are the best ever, the other one is Flash.
Okay, telling them you've been watching them probably isn't going to ease their worries.
Batman's not the type for warning shots
Okay, I want to know which three. J'onn I approve of, GL maybe? I'm not sure I'd trust anyone else. Who's the second one (assuming Bruce is the first one)? Atom?
I wonder what happened to the Ultiman who joined the JL?
Yay! Go plucky support people! I guess if you work for J'onn and Batman, then being attacked by a Tyrannosaurus doesn't seem that scary any more
They're making Question fight from his hospital gown?
Is 'shut down a loose cannon' a mixed metaphor?
Oh, I so thought Lex was building his own Superman
That's such a Lex thing to do. He's even made the super-immortal body look just a little bit like him
Lex isn't too modest at all
Lex! He caught the...
Lex and Batman! Fighting! That pleases me so much. Lex and Bruce should get scenes together more often. And far more fights.
Batman! No! It's worth mentioning that I screamed that out loud at the television
Waller kicks ass
I hope you can be officially charged with "Using a giant space gun"
You've got to admire the way Flash can ruin absolutely any dramatic tension. That was such a gloriously dramatic entrance, and so perfectly ruined by Flash's "ta da!"
What's... Brainiac! Brainiac! Wow!

Divided We Fall

Poor Clark looks fairly horrified that he might have been sleeping with Brainiac.
Are we meant to remember him kidnapping Lex? We haven't seen this before have we?
Lex was cured of cancer and suddenly invested with superpowers and at no point stopped to ask himself why? That's such a Lex thing to not do
You have to admire a woman that heavily armed.
Giant tentacles! Tentacles appear to be the way to defeat the JL.
You'd think J'onn would learn to react sooner.
Batman and Flash must be standing on the ground twiddling their thumbs.
Batman can get a lot of information from some gloop.
It does seem quite a pointless mission.
Lex is very good at defeating all-powerful artificial life forms by asking them a few sensible questions
Lex is surprisingly relaxed negotiating with the alien entity living in his chest.
Lex really does ahs imagination in abundance.
Wouldn't the most advanced nano-tech be Amazo?
J'onn's been on to the Transporter Company for weeks about that.
What's the point of superpowers if you still can't get somewhere on time?
"Less talk, more hitting." Hawkgirl is definitely back.
Justice Lords! He made Justice Lords! Justice Lords! They don’t really need anything else saying about them.
Justice Lord Flash! Even though there wouldn't have been a Justice Lord Flash, since if he was there there wouldn't have been Justice Lords, he's really, really cool
Flash is so damn proud of that seat at the conference table
Fake Batman doesn't even bother with the psychological taunts. There wouldn't be much he could say
The JL just have so many issues...
Flash! Flash! *gulp*
Surely Lex won't destroy Flash now he's seen that vibration trick he does.
He's running around the world?! Cool! That's a fabulous plan.
Naked Lex! Sorry, I know I'm interrupting the tension, but it's naked animated Lex!
No! Flash! "I feel kinda funny" are such superbly Flash-like final words
Batman is so upset!
I like Lex's realisation that it's probably *now* that Superman will want to kill him.
Yes!
Telepathic contact with Flash must be an incredibly strange experience
He doesn't have to go!
Even *Bruce* is there!
Is hubris technically a sin? Oddly enough the day after I wrote these they spent five minutes discussing hubris on the cricket commentary. With an on-screen definition
But the Watchtower is so cool!
They're still going to keep in touch though
Superman just decided that on his own?
Clark is such a drama queen. "I'm leaving, no don't stop me!"
Actually, Flash saved the world.
Oh, Clark so just wanted the attention.
You've got to love Green Arrow's version of a pep talk; either step up or sod off
Superman and Batman shared a look!
Do you get the feeling Bruce and Clark had this all planned?
Bruce doesn't do minor administrative tasks
Have they? I thought the whole point of this season was that they didn't have it covered at all. Well, Batman will have it covered anyway, just in case.
How many l's could you possibly fit in 'ambivalent'? There's nowhere for any extras ones to go

Epilogue

Words cannot express how excited I am by the prospect of this episode; bouncing could barely express how excited I am
Wow. That's McGinnis? He's all grown up now... Old Terry grew cheekbones?
Very old Bruce! Geriatric Bruce!
I don't remember Tim having much of a choice
Bruce is going to be so pissed if Terry doesn't leave. His last thought before he dies will be "I was wrong"
I kinda hoped the future would be multicoloured not black and white.
Bruce hasn't been surprised by anything for seventy-odd years, he's not going to start being surprised now
Not even Batman can stand up to the power of a little old lady
And he doesn't think she be in danger just be having been his girlfriend for fifteen years?
Iniquity Collective is a wonderful name
He's Bruce's...? Bruce... What? Wow! Bruce is Terry's father? (Actually, I have "Terry is Bruce's father" written down, but I don’t think that can be right.)
Even I know Bruce is that arrogant
They usually have pleasantries?
If you can knock someone out with it, it's probably real
What I would pay for Batman to sit on the swing...
Somehow it seemed comforting when Bruce had done it.
"His" Justice League...
"He left it all over town." Or she could have just asked Clark to get a sample for her...
"Not remotely what I meant." And yet somehow, exactly what we all thought.
Phantasm!
This is oddly religious.
Terry was going to object to the brain comment, but then thought better of it. Poor Terry. He'd be so offended if that wasn't true
I love that Bruce left the soup to go cold, just so Terry would *know* he made it. Bruce made soup! We so should've got to see Bruce making soup, or at least opening the tin. He makes crumpets too, but they're not very successful
No! My tape ran out just before the emotional part!
Kent?
That was so glorious. I feel like I've fallen in love with Batman, and both of them, all over again

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