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Episodes |
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"Fearful Symmetry" |
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Episode Number- JL-56 (straight count), JL3-04(as
'Justice League'), JLU-01-04(as 'Justice League Unlimited') |
Writer: Robert Goodman
Director: Dan Riba
Story: Stan Berkowitz
Star: Carl Lumbly (Martian Manhunter/J'onn J'onzz)
Recurring Role: Kin Shriner (Green Arrow), Nicholle Tom (Kara/Tea), Robert
Foxworth (Professor Emil Hamilton), Jeffrey Combs (The Question)
Guest Star: Charles Napier (General Hardcastle), Sam McMurray (Gilbert
Hale), Roger Rose (Lasser), Cree Summer (Female Singer) |
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Episode Description |
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When Supergirl is plagued by disturbing
dreams, she turns to Green Arrow and The Question for help, but they soon
learn that she may not be dreaming after all. |
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Full Synopsis |
Supergirl confronts a scientist and tries
to kill him, only to be attacked by kryptonite-ray armed soldiers. She
defeats them and chases the scientist to a laboratory, defeating a robot.
She confronts the scientist and incinerates him with her heat vision...and
wakes up in her bedroom in Kansas.
J'onn is unable to ascertain anything using his telepathy, and a distressed
Supergirl talks with Green Arrow. Their conversation is overheard by the
Question, who suggests some kind of conspiracy is responsible. They
ascertain that Kara was comatose and treated for injuries at STAR Lab during
Superman's attack on Earth under Darkseid's control. They go there, but
Professor Hamilton says there is no indication anything amiss happened
during her stay there.
As they leave they are attacked by soldiers who they readily defeat. The
robot and weaponry used connects them to the Army and General Hardcastle,
who worked against Superman during the Apokolips invasion. They confront him
and although hostile he eventually admits that he was in charge of various
experiments the Army undertook in metahuman and mutant studies, experiments
such as Volcana and the Royal Flush Gang. After the three heroes leave, a
blonde super-powered woman confronts and kills him.
Back aboard the satellite, Supergirl is aware that Hardcastle is dead. They
connect Hardcastle to Nuvo-Gen and Green Arrow and Supergirl go there while
the Question confronts a TV broadcaster who is involved with the scheme. The
broadcaster, Lasser, knows the mysterious blonde woman and reveals he's been
seeing her and she's been 'restless'. GA and Supergirl break into Nuva-Gen
and uncover plans showing that they cloned Supergirl and created an
equally-powered twin, 'Tea.' They spot her and chase her into a
hologram-training room, where she plans to destroy Supergirl and eliminate
the person mentally linked to her.
The two women fight it out and the Question arrives to reveal that Tea is
concerned that Supergirl's conscience is mentally "leaking" over to her,
making it impossible to do her job for the Army. He dares her to kill him,
but before she can do so or not, Supergirl knocks her out. The mysterious
individual in charge of the program orders the entire facility destroyed and
the three heroes just manage to escape. After arriving at the Watchtower,
Supergirl contacts Professor Hamilton and asks her if they ever kept her DNA
from the Operation she had when Superman was brainwashed. Hamilton denies
it. Saying that its common procedure after they operate that they destroy
all genetic material. We discover at the end, that Hamilton lied. Galatea
had been rescued and is being treated for her extensive injuries at STAR
Labs.
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Trivia |
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General Hardcastle and Professor Hamilton,
from Superman: The Animated Series, are in this episode. Charles Napier
reprises his role as General Hardcastle. Robert Foxworth takes on the role of
Professor Hamilton, previously played by Victor Brandt.
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Logic Right Out The Window... |
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If Galatea is an exact clone but aged a few
more years, why does she have green eyes when Supergirl's are blue?
Presumably, they used a completely mocked-up
hologram for Tea's training program at Nuvo-Gen, the one that Supergirl saw in
her dream. But then why did they use the STAR Labs surgical robot in the
simulation? Wouldn't it have made more sense to use, say, the combat training
robots, rather then either ship the surgical robot across town and back, or
create a hologram of it?
When the heroes visit Hardcastle, they
teleport up from right outside his door. But earlier, they just strolled away
from STAR Labs and...kept on walking. Why didn't they request beam-up? It's not
like they had somewhere else to go and they're in an isolated area. It's almost
like they read the script and knew they had to stick around to be ambushed...
Throughout the episode, everyone calls the
professor that Supergirl/Tea killed "Gilbert Hallstrom." But in the end-credits
he's identified as "Gilbert Hale."
For some reason the hexagon floor-tiles in
the hologram room aren't very...well, hexagonal. They all have six sides, but
some are symmetrical (ironically enough) while the ones that Green Arrow and
Supergirl stand on aren't.
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Continuity References |
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The Flash, Wildcat, the Vigilante, Black
Canary, Hourman, Dr. Mid-Nite, the Shining Knight, and several other Leaguers
are glimpsed throughout this episode.
The Royal Flush Gang and Volcana are
mentioned.
The episode itself is a
direct sequel to the S:TAS episode "Legacy".
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Pop Culture References |
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The reporter 'Jerry' that accosts Lasser in
the bar, is a spot-on match for the fictional Carl Kolchak, a reporter who was
featured in the '72 TV movie The Night Stalker, its sequel The Night
Strangler, and the short-lived 1974-75 TV series Kolchak: The Night
Stalker. Coincidentally or not, an all-new DVD of the two TV movies was
released the week or so just prior to this episode.
Title
The title of this episode comes from William Blake's poem "The Tyger" -
Tyger, tyger burning bright / In the forests of the night: / What immortal
hand or eye, / Could frame thy fearful symmetry? It also appears to be an
allusion to Watchmen #5, which was titled "Fearful Symmetry" and heavily
featured Rorschach, a character based on the Question. Fearful Symmetry was
also the name of a second season X-Files episode, which may be
another in-joke to that series (see Cultural References below). And finally,
the poem was also used as the title for the Batman: TAS episode,
Tyger, Tyger, where Selina Kyle (Catwoman) becomes a real cat woman.
Tea = Power Girl
In the comics, Power Girl (Kara, or Karen Starr) was originally the Earth-2
version of Supergirl, and the cousin of the Earth-2 Superman. While the
character Tea clearly isn't supposed to be her, she bears a marked physical
similarity - shorter blonde hair, a more...mature physique (a running gag in
the current JSA series), gold bracelet-belt, and a circular chest-cutout in
her all-white neck-covering costume.
The World's Finest
The Green Arrow/Supergirl team-up parallels the famous Batman/Superman
partnership in the comics. Green Arrow is a "normal" human being with no
superpowers, uses devices, and is/was a rich millionnaire. Supergirl is a
somewhat naive alien and orphan from a distant planet, the last of her kind,
who has vast superpowers.
The Question's Walls:
The walls of the Question's room are covered in clippings connected by a web
of yarn - they're identical to John Nash's "decoding" in A Beautiful Mind.
Poster:
Got Fluoride?
Aside from being a "Got Milk?" parody, the poster is referencing that most
water in the United States contains low amounts of fluoride in it.
Supposedly, this is included to help prevent cavities, but some say it's
part of some conspiracy such as mind control. The idea of water fluoridation
is used in the movie "Dr. Strangelove" in which a general believes it is a
Communist conspiracy to harm "our precious bodily fluids."
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Quotes |
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Dr. Hamilton:
You rest. We'll have you fixed up in no time...Galatea.
The Question:
It bites having someone in your head, doesn't it?
Tea:
Next time, get your own dreams.
The Question:
Anything break?
Green Arrow: Just my stride.
The Question: Nap's over. Come on.
The Question: (singing) I'm in love again. What am I gonna tell my friends? It just
happened - you walk in my door. No I don't want to be alone no more.
(shatters window, sets off alarm) Oops, I done it, told you how I feel.
Just have to hope our love is real...
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