The Reflection shows its strengths this week with strong character arcs, a deepening overall plot and some subtleties with its setting. Only thing left to fix is the frame count, but i’ve beat that horse to death, so let’s just jump right in.
Reflection opens up the episode right after the end of last weeks. X-On, Lisa and Elen sit in Elen’s pickup truck in the middle of nowhere. Not sure where she’s getting wifi from, but that’s a small matter. After some banter, where X-On once again shows himself to be a lovable jerk, we get to see what happened after they flew away. Turns out Lisa has a limit to her power, as they power down in mid air and plummet to earth! It’s a fun scene and makes Lisa seem a lot less powerful than she did before. Cutting back to the truck, Elen has found that the women of the Allen family are going missing across the country. Furthermore, each was hit by the Reflection. Apparently Wraith and our band of villains have a plan, kidnapping Reflected one by one. Their next stop? New Orleans. Let the race begin.
While they travel to the South, we jump over to best-man I-Guy who having a crisis of confidence in the West. Turns out he’s not some boy-scout, but a thrill seeker who only wants a stage. Saving people is not his priority, but rather getting seen saving people. While talking all this out with his crew, I-Guy learns of a gang gathering in a warehouse. Not one to leave such a meeting alone, he flies out and crashes the weapons deal. Rather than waiting the gang immediately shoot at I-Guy, which I appreciated, before being taken down. The real threat however is the sociopath businessman selling them the guns. Every blow explodes, marking him as a Reflected. Looks like we are in for a fight!
Or so I though. The fight ended as quickly as it began, as I-Guy grabs him and flies away! Dumping both of them in the ocean. Always one for flare I-Guy makes it another show, ending in a pose for the camera. From that pose we transition to a newspaper, which Ian Izette the man behind the mask of I-Guy, is reading. Ian is not a fan of how popular I-Guy has gotten, upset that people aren’t focusing on him and his song. Its interesting to see a man try to compete with himself. Im curious if Ian will give up on this and become I-Guy in full, of if the persona of I-Guy will start to take some hits. Either way its intriguing to see a man hate himself, while loving himself as much as Ian does.
To deal with this attitude, Ian decides to go out and write a new song! Only for his producer to shut him down, instead wanting to work with I-Guy. Upset and in a downward spiral from this, Ian visits a club and jacks the mic from the current band. He soon gets hit with stage fright and backs down however. Its an awkward and very vulnerable moment for the character, as he slowly falls apart. After running away however he reappears as I-Guy, blaring the song and being a true sky show. Even through his helmet he seems sad. We can see from this that Ian gains confidence from the armor, that he is afraid of being judged as Ian Izette the One Hit Wonder. I really hope this arc continues into future episodes and isn’t just a one-off event, as Ian is currently the most interesting character in The Reflection. Sadly that is all we get of Ian this episode as we jump back to X-On, Lisa and Elen, but I look forward to seeing him again.
Now in New Orleans, our group sets out in search of the Allens. Lisa is loving the trip, exclaiming how beautiful the ocean is only to have it pointed out as a lake. That was such an unexpected comedic moment for me, I actually laughed. Soon after arriving in New Orleans though the comedy dies down and we learn something is very wrong. Reflected, or refs as people here call them, are being kidnapped by a duo known as ‘Merchant’ and ‘Trader’. They kidnap and ‘scrap’ the Reflected, feeding into the racism of the city. Turns out when racism based on color is outlawed, the south will just find something else. We see this throughout the town even, as a group of children pick on another child who hung out with the kidnapped Reflected. Being the beautiful idiot she is, Elen can’t let this stand. She pops in, saves him, and pops out only to be quickly snatched up by ‘Merchant’ and ‘Trader’. Boy these guys are fast with interesting designs to boot!
X-On and Lisa later learn about Elen’s kidnapping, Lisa being determined to save her. X-On seems to not care, only to be guilted into it. Once again we see that our heroes are not perfect. Ian is arrogant, X-On is uncaring, Lisa is naive and Elen acts on a whim. Its good character moments as we head into what appears to be our first running arc. Elen wakes up in a fancy house out in the swamp, filled with what I can only assume are all of the kidnapped Reflected! ‘Merchant’ and ‘Trader’ are bad guys, posing as good guys! Kidnapping people to keep them safe in this swamp. I am legitimately interested to hear from these guys, their plans and ideals, to see where they go. They could side with our heroes or, since they want to defend Reflected, side with Wraith. They really are 3rd party right now.
All in all, a plot packed episode. Characters got fleshed out, the story progressed and everyone has their own goals and are actively heading towards them. The only complaint I have continues to be the animation quality/frames. Its a shame that so many people will write this series off because of this issue.
At least we who watch it to the end will have something they wont. Japanese pop-idol magical girls, which got hinted at through the entire episode. My body is ready Stan Lee, don’t disappoint.
