Fearful Symmetry
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| Justice League Unlimited episode | |
|---|---|
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| "Fearful Symmetry" | |
| Airdate: | Saturday September 4, 2004 (USA) |
| Production Number: | 4 |
| Airdate Order: | 6 |
| Teleplay by: | Robert Goodman |
| Story by: | Stan Berkowitz |
| Directed by: | Dan Riba |
| Episode images (3) | |
"Fearful Symmetry" (aka Galatea) is the sixth episode of Justice League Unlimited. It originally aired on September 4, 2004. It depicts Supergirl having disturbing nightmares that she fears are repressed memories of her committing murder.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
On a deserted street at night, a man is running for his life, and his pursuer is none other than Supergirl. She corners him, and he swears that he didn’t tell anyone anything, to which she replies, "Good. Then you're the only loose end." Before she can act, she is attacked by masked soldiers armed with jet packs and laser guns that can actually hurt her. However, she makes short work of the soldiers, then takes off after the man again. Entering a large building, she is attacked by a bizarre-looking robot, which she fights off with difficulty. The man, having set the robot on her, retreats into a corner. Supergirl gives a cruel smile, and her eyes glow red — then the view shifts to outside S.T.A.R. Labs, from which there is a horrible scream — and in Smallville, Kansas, Supergirl bolts upright in bed with a cry. She is dressed in her nightclothes, but looks at the ceiling and sees she has inadvertently burned a hole in it.
Aboard the Watchtower, Supergirl goes to J'onn for help. He spends a few minutes in telepathic contact with her, and says he frankly doesn’t have an answer: he doesn't know much about dreams, but admits that what he sees of hers is much more cohesive than others he has seen. Kara says the dreams are like memories, and becomes terrified that she has actually done these things.
Green Arrow soothes her, but they are interrupted by The Question, who has a different theory — namely, that it’s all connected to a massive worldwide conspiracy. Question reminds her that there's a gap in her memory, when she was treated at S.T.A.R. Labs after being injured in Superman’s attack on the earth.
Both Arrow and Question accompany Supergirl to S.T.A.R. Labs, where she tells Professor Hamilton about her dream. Sympathetic, Hamilton assures her that she never left the lab. Hamilton shows her a surgical robot, a much smaller version of the one in her dream, that he used to treat her, and theorizes that the dream is a sort of defense mechanism from the trauma of being operated on.
As they leave the lab, Arrow appears convinced, but Question is not. They are barely away from the lab when a trio of military helicopters appears and attacks. One drops a robot that attacks Supergirl, while the others disgorge a squad of soldiers that attack Question and Arrow. They manage to drive them off, and Supergirl begins to suspect Question is right. The robot is a Z-8, which the League buys from the military for training purposes. Question reveals that the officer in charge of the Z-8 project was none other than General Hardcastle, who commanded the military response to Superman’s attack.
The trio confront Hardcastle, living in retirement in the country. He appears to be expecting someone to come and attack him, but a lot of what he says seems to confirm Question’s theories: for a long time, the military and big business have been experimenting on metahumans, and also that the government has been keeping tabs on the members of the Justice League. Hardcastle himself has been involved with these projects, but whatever is happening now started after he retired. The trio leave, disappointed.
A short time later, someone else enters Hardcastle’s home, introducing herself as "Tea" — the spitting image of Supergirl, but with a different costume.
In the Watchtower, Kara starts awake after falling asleep on a desk. Instinctively she knows that Hardcastle is dead.
J'onn calls Question's quarters with a new lead: a news program is reporting the disappearance of a man named Gilbert Halstrom, whose photograph J'onn recognizes as the man from Supergirl's dream. Arrow and Supergirl are interested in the company Halstrom worked for, a genetics firm called Nuvo Gen, but Question is more interested in the fact that only one news network had the story.
Question kidnaps the reporter, Lasser, and interrogates him: Lasser says that a girl he's been seeing gave him the story: blond hair, blue eyes, "a real farmer’s daughter type."
Arrow and Kara infiltrate Nuvo Gen and find evidence that they've been experimenting with Kara's DNA. Kara realizes that they’ve cloned her — she sees file footage of the clone in action during a training exercise that matches her dreams — and she must have some kind of psychic link with the clone. Hearing someone coming, they run into another room and stumble into a holographic chamber simulating Metropolis. Then they are confronted by "Tea," and realize it was a trap: she says that as long as Supergirl has a window into her mind, Tea can’t operate in secret.
Kara fights, but is outmatched: Tea is physically older, and thus stronger, than her, and trained as a much more ruthless fighter. Kara is on the ropes, when Question appears, and reveals that Tea herself has been having sleepless nights: the connection runs both ways, and Tea has been receiving insight of what it is like to have Supergirl’s conscience — which is definitely a handicap for an assassin. Tea hesitates, giving Supergirl the chance to counterattack.
Elsewhere, a shadowy figure who is watching the fight via camera receives a telephone call, and obeys his instructions, triggering the facility’s self-destruct. Supergirl flies Question and Arrow away as the compound explodes.
Supergirl reports to Professor Hamilton that they searched the wreckage, but never found Tea. Hamilton signs off, and — in the company of two military officers — attends to Tea, who is lying on a bed in S.T.A.R. Labs, badly injured. Hamilton addresses her by her full name: Galatea.
[edit] Continuity
- This episode begins the Cadmus story arc that is the linchpin of the second season of Justice League Unlimited.
- There are several references to the events of the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Legacy," when Superman was brainwashed by Darkseid and attacked the earth.
- General Hardcastle refers to the characters of Volcana and the Royal Flush Gang, who appeared, respectively, in Superman: The Animated Series, "Where There's Smoke," and Justice League, "Wild Cards."
- The Z-8 robot which appears here was also used by the Justice League in a training exercise in "Secret Society" and is also the basis for the Zeta robot.
[edit] Background Information
[edit] Production Notes
- When Green Arrow blows up a helicopter, the ensuing explosion features reused footage from the chain of explosions leading up to Darkseid's palace, in the teaser of the Justice League episode, "Twilight, Part I." Some frames of that sequences are used again when Supergirl slams at car at Tea.
[edit] Production Inconsistencies
- Galatea is a clone of Supergirl. However, she has green eyes, while Kara's are blue.
- 'Fluoride' is misspelled 'Flouride' on Question's poster.
[edit] Trivia
- Question has posters of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and Stonehenge in his room. There is also a poster with the words "I Know" in which the letter 'o' is shaped like an alien head, and another that reads "Got Flouride[sic]?" which lampoons the famous "Got Milk?" ad. Question reveals his theory about fluoride while being tortured by Dr. Moon in "Question Authority." The style of the "I Know" poster is reminiscent of Mulder's poster in the X-Files.
- Question's theory concerning "actors elected to public office" is probably a nod to Arnold Schwarzenegger who was elected the 38th Governor of California almost one year before this episode aired. It may also refer to Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, who was an actor before his rise to public office.
- When J'onn contacts Question, there are four monitors showing Vigilante, Wonder Woman, Elongated Man and the Flash on separate missions.
- Galatea is loosely based upon the comic book character Power Girl. Her costume is obviously similar (except she does not wear a cape, and her gloves and boots are white instead of blue). In the comics universe, Power Girl was Supergirl's counterpart from Earth-2, whereas in the DCAU she's a clone. In the comics universe, she is a superhero, whereas in the DCAU, she is a villain.
- In Greek mythology, Galatea was a woman brought to life from a marble statue of the goddess Aphrodite.
- Robert Foxworth replaces Victor Brandt as the voice of Emil Hamilton.
- One of only two times in the series when The Question's face is seen. This is also his first speaking appearance; he is voiced by Jeffrey Combs, the second actor to voice Batman rogue Scarecrow.
- The episode's title refers to the first stanza of William Blake's famous poem "The Tyger":
| “ | Tyger, Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? | ” |
- The poem was likewise quoted in Batman: The Animated Series, "Tyger, Tyger."
- The title is also a possible reference to Chapter 5 of the DC Comics miniseries Watchmen, which features the character Rorschach, modeled directly on Steve Ditko's The Question. Also, both in the issue and in the episode the two characters' allude to a penchant to trash cans.
- In one of the odder and more obscure nods of the series, the noted Disney character animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston are referenced when Green Arrow pretends to be a security guard. Arrow introduces himself to the other guard via the shortening of his given name Oliver — "Ollie" — prompting the guard to inquire, "Where's Frank?" Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston were famously best friends for the entirety of their lives and spent much of their time together.
- Lasser is confronted by a reporter in a straw hat before his encounter with The Question - this reporter's appearance is similar to that of Carl Kolchak, a conspiracy hunter similar to the X-Files' Fox Mulder.
- It has been widely speculated that the bald man in the shadows viewing the fight was Lex Luthor, but this has been repeatedly denined.
[edit] Cast
[edit] Uncredited Appearances
[edit] Quotes
| Previous episode: None | Cadmus Story Arc | Next episode: "Ultimatum" |
| Previously produced episode: "Hawk and Dove" | Episodes of Justice League Unlimited | Next produced episode: "Kid Stuff" |
| Previously aired episode: "This Little Piggy" | Next aired episode: "The Greatest Story Never Told" |
