The problem with the Atlantean storyline is the same one that I had with the Marz storyline. And to some degree the Artemis storyline. There's way too much reliance on backstory, and a culture and/or characters we've not that familiar with, to it to have much significance.
Not only do we have Kal and Orin, but Orm and Mera. And Arion. And Vandal. And Nereus. And Nanaue. And Rodal. And Wynnde. And Coral. And the woman swimming around with Arion. And Delphis. And Topo. And that's just the Atlanteans. Then we have Conner, and Lex Luthor, and the school bus, and Psimon, and Vandal. And M'gann, who shows up as a mermaid for no reason that has ever been gaslit in previous episodes. Sure, as a shapeshifting Martian she could turn into a mermaid. But she just appears out of nowhere.
A lot of this is predicated on distinctive art styles that aren't that distinctive. Maybe I'm dumb, but I'm not seeing a lot of visual difference between Rodal and Wynnde. Or Chian and the woman with Arion. It doesn't help that they have a lot of actors and actress doing double or triple voice duty, which helps not to make the characters distinctive vocally, either.
Part of it is that I can see the whole Atlantean story playing into the background of Young Justice, but it just doesn't seem that important. I'm tuning in to watch 'Young Justice', not "The Trials of Atlantis'. Or 'The Tribulations of Mars'. Who cares if Mera takes over as High King of Atlantis? We haven't seen anything of the Atlantis story in four seasons: why should we care now? It feels like Greg Weisman and company filling in the backstories, and trying to pump as much as possible into the show. And that's to me, who follows the backstory of the DC Universe. Why anyone who is a casual viewer would find any of this of interest, I have no idea.
The story jumps around so much there doesn't there doesn't seem to be much of a story. We got Violet exploring her Muslim "heritage". And Forager. And Beast Boy's PTSD. Those are the main storylines, I think, because we only see them every few episodes. Then we have Atlantis, and Marz, and the League of Shadows, and the Legion, and Witch Boy, and the Lords of Order/Chaos. Young Justice is scattered far and wide except when mourning Conner, who we keep seeing practically every episode which undermines the fact that his teammates think he's dead.
I just wish the production crew would settle down a bit. Pick a story and stick with it, instead of giving us a tour of the DC Universe or their take on it. It sounds like we're going to get Rocket and the New Gods next. Remember when Granny Goodness was a "thing" on the show? I kinda do, but we got nothing to remind of us of the New Gods when apparently they're going to be the next big thing.
It feels like the Young Justice characters are being used to push back door pilots, instead of stories about themselves. M'gann gives us the Marz culture, Kal gives us the Atlantis culture, Artemis gives us the League of Shadows, Rocket gives us the New Gods. Give us stories about those seven characters we keep seeing at the beginning of 'Young Justice", instead of using them to bring in other stuff.
So the Atlantean four-parter is okay, but it felt like I'm watching a show about Atlantis. Not a show about Young Justice, or Kal. Ditto for the previous multi-parters. Like I said, I'm here to watch stories about Kal, and Dick, and M'gann, and Zatanna. Give me stories about them: not other elements of the DC Universe.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
