Kobayashi Tennyson: “Above and Beyond”
Mar. 14th, 2010 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoamePierce, Manny, Helen, and Alan are waiting around at base when Max contacts them with an encrypted message—he’s under attack at Plumber Research Satellite Delta, and he needs backup. He leaves to find a safe place to hide, moments before the door is broken down and his attacker is revealed. Humongousaur notices the camera and mocks the Helpers, warning them that if they interfere, Grandpa Max isn’t the only one who’s going to be hurt.
With Ben apparently on the dark side and Gwen and Kevin conveniently on a mission halfway across the galaxy, the Helpers are the last hope for Max. They head to Satellite Delta, where they find another message from Max, warning them that they need to stick together. Determined to follow this order, Pierce takes command…only for the team to break apart, with Helen and Manny insisting they work better as their own team, and then with Ben working to separate them himself. One by one, Ben attacks and defeats each of them until Alan is the only one still missing. Pierce insists to his teammates that the only way they’re going to stand a chance against Ben is if they do like Max said and stick together, and sure enough, they send Ben running. But as they make it to the bridge to try and locate Max, Ben is already there waiting for them. He attacks them as Humongousaur, but they work together to defeat him, sending him flying out the airlock. Unfortunately, all of the fighting has knocked the satellite out of orbit, and its projected path will have it crash right into London. With no way of stabilizing their orbit and no way to escape, the Helpers agree to blow up the satellite, sacrificing themselves to save the millions in London. They insert their badges into the console and wait for the end…only for Max to appear and say they’ve done a good job. Furthermore, Humongousaur makes his way back inside, demorphing and shivering as he walks toward Max, saying that he can’t believe they ejected him into space.
Max stabilizes the orbit, and he and Ben explain everything. Satellite Delta is a training facility, and they’ve been running a simulation to see how well the four would handle it if Ben did go rogue. By actually defeating him, they passed. But it was truly an accident that their brawls threw the satellite out of orbit, and the Tennysons were impressed that their students would so willingly go above and beyond the call of duty and sacrifice themselves to save others. Ben tells them they’re ready to start training at Plumber Academy, and Max tells them to make him proud, as the four young cadets celebrate their new future as official Plumbers.
Overall, I personally found this episode to be a bit of a disappointment. It builds up a lot of suspense in trying to figure out what happened to Ben, and then…this. The simulation revelation felt like a copout—like they had an idea for an Evil Ben story where the B-squad had to take him down, but they didn’t know how to resolve the issue in time without having to tack on the ending of “Oh, it was a simulation!” Which makes Ben and Max look like complete jerks, for needlessly endangering them (and London), beating them up, needling their worst fears, and making them go through the intense emotional trauma that is knowing you have to sacrifice yourself for the greater good. I feel like Helen shouldn’t have hugged Max; if it were me, I’d have hit him.
Story-wise, it sort of treads the old ground of season one—Max is in danger, and his students have to save him. Only this time, his students are Pierce, Helen, Manny, and Alan. As I’ve pointed out before, Pierce, Helen, and Manny are Ben, Gwen, and Kevin as seen through a broken mirror. Manny once again runs into the situation without thinking it through, convinced he can out-muscle Ben, only to have his ass handed to him on a silver platter. When Helen finds him, he insists that Ben got in a lucky punch…or seven. And continuing from the end of “Plumber’s Helpers,” Helen is extremely concerned when it comes to Ben, asking him what’s wrong with him and trying to get him to remember they’re friends. She continues to see his parallels with Pierce and psychologically transfers her regard for her brother (particularly after his “death”) to Ben. There’s an entire article I can write about Helen and transference, but I’ll spare you that for now.
This episode particularly highlights Pierce’s similarities to Ben as he takes command of a team comprised of his sister, his friend, their UST, and an oddly insecure Alan. Cooper, for some reason, is missing from the equation. Just like in “Voided,” he is determined to follow Max’s orders to the letter. “Voided” apparently taught him a few lessons about Ben, since he takes him seriously as an opponent this time, pointing out that he’s more powerful than any one of them. Unfortunately, Pierce really fails to inspire his team until the very end, when he has to point out that Ben has kicked their asses individually too often throughout the episode and if they stand any chance of rescuing Alan, they need to work together. It really works when he points out that their combined attacks have apparently sent Ben running scared. It’s also his decision to destroy the satellite before it can crash, and though they know they’ll all die, the others agree to follow him to the end.
The odd one out is Alan. I found his characterization be very strange this episode. While in “Everybody Talks About the Weather,” he was fairly insecure about his powers, he had a cocky streak. He was also fairly cocky in his appearance in “War of the Worlds.” This time, his cocky streak is gone completely, leaving just insecurity. He has a very high regard for Ben as a mentor and fighter, and the moment he sees that Ben’s apparently gone to the dark side, he’s ready to call it quits right there on the basis of Ben being too strong for them. Ben is easily able to scare him and taunts him for being the weakest member of the team—which is odd, given Alan is made of fire. It almost feels like Alan’s part might have been written for Cooper and then had to be altered—possibly because they couldn’t get the VA or possibly because of logic: Cooper really isn’t as attached to Ben, and his super-hacking skills would have been able to save the satellite without the dramatic, test-winning heroic sacrifice decision.
As for Ben’s first real stab at cliché villainy, he didn’t do half bad: the stalking, the creepy voice and flat tone, the psychological attacks, and of course the moment where he channels the ghost of David Xanatos and turns around in the chair revealing that he’d been three steps ahead the entire time. It’s interesting to note that though he was just playing with them (because he couldn’t use lethal force against raw recruits), he was certainly more creative with his tactics than he normally is in a real fight. One Echo Echo grabs hold of Helen, more hold her down, and even more surround her, hitting her with “Echo Chamber”—a point-blank range Wall of Sound. Manny gets beaten up by a series of apparent galactic wrestling maneuvers, and Pierce is manipulated into letting his guard down enough for Goop to attack him. The battle between Alan and Big Chill, for one, had elements of creativity that I’d normally expect in Avatar: The Last Airbender, with arcing ice and swirls of flame. It’s almost scary that Ben is this dangerous in a fake battle, and doesn’t seem nearly as threatening in a real one. You’d think that level of creativity and brutality would be necessary against Vilgax, but there you go. However, I will admit that he was fairly lenient in comparison toward Pierce, allowing him to run—possibly because Pierce was the only one with enough sense to get the hell out of there.
There are a couple of things noteworthy, however. Max’s rank is revealed to be Magister, and Manny’s last name is Armstrong (no relation to the Major of Fullmetal Alchemist, nor to the first man on the moon). Also, props to Yuri Lowenthal for playing Ben as slightly unhinged. I almost expected a “Hello, Clarice” in there.
“Above and Beyond” was written by Eugene Son. Paul Eiding played Grandpa Max, Juliet Landau played Helen, Adam Wylie played Pierce, Khary Payton played Manny, and Zeno Robinson played Alan.
With Ben apparently on the dark side and Gwen and Kevin conveniently on a mission halfway across the galaxy, the Helpers are the last hope for Max. They head to Satellite Delta, where they find another message from Max, warning them that they need to stick together. Determined to follow this order, Pierce takes command…only for the team to break apart, with Helen and Manny insisting they work better as their own team, and then with Ben working to separate them himself. One by one, Ben attacks and defeats each of them until Alan is the only one still missing. Pierce insists to his teammates that the only way they’re going to stand a chance against Ben is if they do like Max said and stick together, and sure enough, they send Ben running. But as they make it to the bridge to try and locate Max, Ben is already there waiting for them. He attacks them as Humongousaur, but they work together to defeat him, sending him flying out the airlock. Unfortunately, all of the fighting has knocked the satellite out of orbit, and its projected path will have it crash right into London. With no way of stabilizing their orbit and no way to escape, the Helpers agree to blow up the satellite, sacrificing themselves to save the millions in London. They insert their badges into the console and wait for the end…only for Max to appear and say they’ve done a good job. Furthermore, Humongousaur makes his way back inside, demorphing and shivering as he walks toward Max, saying that he can’t believe they ejected him into space.
Max stabilizes the orbit, and he and Ben explain everything. Satellite Delta is a training facility, and they’ve been running a simulation to see how well the four would handle it if Ben did go rogue. By actually defeating him, they passed. But it was truly an accident that their brawls threw the satellite out of orbit, and the Tennysons were impressed that their students would so willingly go above and beyond the call of duty and sacrifice themselves to save others. Ben tells them they’re ready to start training at Plumber Academy, and Max tells them to make him proud, as the four young cadets celebrate their new future as official Plumbers.
Overall, I personally found this episode to be a bit of a disappointment. It builds up a lot of suspense in trying to figure out what happened to Ben, and then…this. The simulation revelation felt like a copout—like they had an idea for an Evil Ben story where the B-squad had to take him down, but they didn’t know how to resolve the issue in time without having to tack on the ending of “Oh, it was a simulation!” Which makes Ben and Max look like complete jerks, for needlessly endangering them (and London), beating them up, needling their worst fears, and making them go through the intense emotional trauma that is knowing you have to sacrifice yourself for the greater good. I feel like Helen shouldn’t have hugged Max; if it were me, I’d have hit him.
Story-wise, it sort of treads the old ground of season one—Max is in danger, and his students have to save him. Only this time, his students are Pierce, Helen, Manny, and Alan. As I’ve pointed out before, Pierce, Helen, and Manny are Ben, Gwen, and Kevin as seen through a broken mirror. Manny once again runs into the situation without thinking it through, convinced he can out-muscle Ben, only to have his ass handed to him on a silver platter. When Helen finds him, he insists that Ben got in a lucky punch…or seven. And continuing from the end of “Plumber’s Helpers,” Helen is extremely concerned when it comes to Ben, asking him what’s wrong with him and trying to get him to remember they’re friends. She continues to see his parallels with Pierce and psychologically transfers her regard for her brother (particularly after his “death”) to Ben. There’s an entire article I can write about Helen and transference, but I’ll spare you that for now.
This episode particularly highlights Pierce’s similarities to Ben as he takes command of a team comprised of his sister, his friend, their UST, and an oddly insecure Alan. Cooper, for some reason, is missing from the equation. Just like in “Voided,” he is determined to follow Max’s orders to the letter. “Voided” apparently taught him a few lessons about Ben, since he takes him seriously as an opponent this time, pointing out that he’s more powerful than any one of them. Unfortunately, Pierce really fails to inspire his team until the very end, when he has to point out that Ben has kicked their asses individually too often throughout the episode and if they stand any chance of rescuing Alan, they need to work together. It really works when he points out that their combined attacks have apparently sent Ben running scared. It’s also his decision to destroy the satellite before it can crash, and though they know they’ll all die, the others agree to follow him to the end.
The odd one out is Alan. I found his characterization be very strange this episode. While in “Everybody Talks About the Weather,” he was fairly insecure about his powers, he had a cocky streak. He was also fairly cocky in his appearance in “War of the Worlds.” This time, his cocky streak is gone completely, leaving just insecurity. He has a very high regard for Ben as a mentor and fighter, and the moment he sees that Ben’s apparently gone to the dark side, he’s ready to call it quits right there on the basis of Ben being too strong for them. Ben is easily able to scare him and taunts him for being the weakest member of the team—which is odd, given Alan is made of fire. It almost feels like Alan’s part might have been written for Cooper and then had to be altered—possibly because they couldn’t get the VA or possibly because of logic: Cooper really isn’t as attached to Ben, and his super-hacking skills would have been able to save the satellite without the dramatic, test-winning heroic sacrifice decision.
As for Ben’s first real stab at cliché villainy, he didn’t do half bad: the stalking, the creepy voice and flat tone, the psychological attacks, and of course the moment where he channels the ghost of David Xanatos and turns around in the chair revealing that he’d been three steps ahead the entire time. It’s interesting to note that though he was just playing with them (because he couldn’t use lethal force against raw recruits), he was certainly more creative with his tactics than he normally is in a real fight. One Echo Echo grabs hold of Helen, more hold her down, and even more surround her, hitting her with “Echo Chamber”—a point-blank range Wall of Sound. Manny gets beaten up by a series of apparent galactic wrestling maneuvers, and Pierce is manipulated into letting his guard down enough for Goop to attack him. The battle between Alan and Big Chill, for one, had elements of creativity that I’d normally expect in Avatar: The Last Airbender, with arcing ice and swirls of flame. It’s almost scary that Ben is this dangerous in a fake battle, and doesn’t seem nearly as threatening in a real one. You’d think that level of creativity and brutality would be necessary against Vilgax, but there you go. However, I will admit that he was fairly lenient in comparison toward Pierce, allowing him to run—possibly because Pierce was the only one with enough sense to get the hell out of there.
There are a couple of things noteworthy, however. Max’s rank is revealed to be Magister, and Manny’s last name is Armstrong (no relation to the Major of Fullmetal Alchemist, nor to the first man on the moon). Also, props to Yuri Lowenthal for playing Ben as slightly unhinged. I almost expected a “Hello, Clarice” in there.
“Above and Beyond” was written by Eugene Son. Paul Eiding played Grandpa Max, Juliet Landau played Helen, Adam Wylie played Pierce, Khary Payton played Manny, and Zeno Robinson played Alan.