#(coping horribly to his traitor reveal at the end of season one)

[starboy-ships]

I wish he was real and also my wife

[phantom-le6]

Episode Reviews - Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3 (4 of 6)

This is now the fourth round of Star Trek: The Next Generation episode reviews for the show’s third season, and it kicks off with one of my all-time favourite Trek episodes…

Episode 16: The Offspring

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Data invites Deanna Troi, Wesley Crusher and Geordi La Forge to the Enterprise science lab and surprises them by introducing a featureless humanoid android, whom he created based on his own structural design and recent advances in Federation cybernetics technology, describing it as his child, who he names Lal (Hindi for “beloved”). Captain Picard, being informed about Lal, expresses concern to Data for constructing Lal in secrecy, but Data reminds him that he would not express such concern were two human crewmembers to decide to procreate, to which the captain has little argument. Data encourages Lal to select a gender and appearance. With Troi's assistance and considering many of the on-board species as well as the databanks, Lal narrows down to four possibilities, including a Klingon male, which, as Troi points out, would make it "a friend for Worf", but in the end selects the appearance of a young female human.

 Data first aids Lal with cognitive and standard behavioural algorithms, as well as encouraging her to interact with other members of the crew to learn behavioural and social customs. After a failed attempt to place her in school, due to the younger children being intimidated by her and the older children too socially advanced for her, he places her under Guinan's care at Ten Forward. This leads to some awkward moments, such as Lal misunderstanding the concept of flirting and kissing, which she first interpreted as "attacking" until Guinan makes an effort at explaining the practice. Intrigued by this, Lal engages in suddenly dragging and kissing Commander Riker over the bar, leaving him baffled and earning him a fatherly scolding à la "What are your intentions towards my daughter?" when Data walks in on them. Lal nevertheless adapts very quickly, even, to everyone's amazement, surpassing Data as stated by her ability to use verbal contractions, something Data has never achieved.

 Meanwhile, Picard, as per general orders, reports to Starfleet, prompting Admiral Haftel to arrive to evaluate Lal. From the outset, Haftel is determined to transfer Lal to a Starfleet science facility. He interviews Lal, where she reveals her desire to remain on the Enterprise with her father, but Haftel is unmoved. Upon leaving the meeting, Lal visits Troi in the counselor's quarters. Lal is clearly confused and distraught, and to Troi's amazement, reveals that she is feeling fear. Experiencing an overload of information and emotions, Lal soon stops speaking and wanders off, eventually returning to Data's lab, something she is programmed to do in the event of a malfunction.

 In the meantime, Haftel meets with Data and orders him to release Lal into Starfleet's custody. Though Data moves to comply, Picard orders him to stand fast and reminds him and the Admiral that Data is a sentient life form with defined rights and cannot be ordered to turn what is in essence his child over to the state. But before the discussion can get any more tense, they are interrupted by a call from Troi who explains what has happened to Lal and asks everyone to come to Data's lab at once.

 Upon arriving, Data's diagnostics find Lal's emotional outburst is a symptom of a cascade failure in her positronic brain, and they must work fast to stop it. Seeing Data's sincerity, Haftel offers to assist Data, and he accepts. Sometime later, a worn-out Haftel leaves the lab and informs Troi, Wesley, and Geordi that they have failed. Visibly moved at Data's determination to save his child, Haftel explains the failure was irreparable. He is visibly overwhelmed himself, concluding that Lal will not survive for long. Data apologizes to Lal that he could not save her, but Lal thanks Data for her creation. She lets him know she loves him and will feel the emotion for both of them. Data returns to the bridge, and Picard conveys the crew's condolences, but Data reveals that he has downloaded Lal's memories into his own neural net, allowing Lal's memories and experiences to live on.

Review:

This episode stands out from the rest of TNG for many reasons.  For one thing, it’s the directorial debut of cast member Jonathan Frakes, sparking off a litany of Trek actors breaking into directing through their respective franchises, some of whom have since gone on to direct other TV shows and feature films. Frakes himself even went on to direct two of TNG’s four feature films when the TV show concluded, though some of his work outside of Trek leaves a little to be desired (a key example being his live-action film incarnation of Thunderbirds).

 However, the main reasons for the episode to stand out spring from the story of the episode itself.  Data creating a child is a brilliant idea on the surface just for exploring the idea of what it might be like for mechanical life-forms to reproduce. As far as I know, no other sci-fi franchise has really looked into this concept, or if they have, they haven’t necessarily explored it quite the way that TNG does.  However, Trek is also about relating aspects of our present-day life and the issues therein to the audience through the metaphor of its future setting.  Where Data is concerned, fan interpretation has made him into a metaphor for certain aspects of life as an autistic person, and while that comes through for both him and Lal in this episode, there are other metaphorical representations to be drawn as well.

 The incorporation of the Admiral Haftel character and Data’s status as a de facto single parent, combined with his autism-like traits, presents a kind of metaphor for the misapplication of social care intervention.  Doubtless at the time of this episode’s production, in our present day and for all the years before, in-between and after, there will be some people who believe that where a child is being raised by a parent who is differently abled, single or both, that child should be removed from the parent and placed in care of some kind.  When Picard points out that Haftel is basically ordering a father to hand his child over to the state, this cements Haftel’s principal role as an analogue for the closed-minded social worker who judges the parent not on their actions, but solely for being single and/or differently abled, and who makes his decision on those grounds without any regard to what father or child want or how they’re actually doing.

 Now while I acknowledge that not every parent who is single or differently abled could cope with being a parent, the reality is there are also parents who are married and regularly abled and can’t cope with parenthood either.  The reality is being a good or bad parent is about doing the best you can to meet your child’s basic needs, and in this regard, it is actions and not labels that define a good parent.  Data’s actions throughout the episode are those of someone genuinely trying their best to do the right thing for their child, and Haftel ultimately comes around to acknowledging this when Data has to try and act to save Lal’s life.

 It’s also interesting to watch Lal for what little time she gets in the world of TNG, because while Data is the focus of the episode, Lal has some great moments as another autism analogue.  The difficulty she has fitting in at school is an apt analogy of how western education fails, back in the early 1990’s and now, to effectively educate the differently abled in general and autistic children in particular. From a social skills standpoint, Lal is well behind for someone who appears to be a young woman, yet academically she is highly intelligent, and cannot fit in with any given age group. In turn, her difficulty understanding concepts of flirting and romantic/sexual attraction emulate how incredibly difficult and horrible it can be for autistic teenagers and adults in real life to navigate the same sort of challenges.

 The simple fact is this episode is brilliantly performed, wonderfully multi-faceted and also includes some great moments in terms of accepting being different, taking a gender/sexuality-neutral approach to teaching Lal about love, and for parents of the very young there’s a great little scene where Data has deal with Lal going through an infinite array of ‘why’ questions.  This episode is funny, tragic, thought-provoking, and just generally everything Trek should be. The fact it’s a bottle episode born out of a need to balance the show budget after the expense of ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise’ proves two final points.  First, TNG learns from the abysmal ‘Shades of Grey’ episode and upped its game for bottle episodes.  Two, a great story on a low budget is better than an ok story going over-budget. Score for this one is a clear-cut 10 out of 10.

Episode 17: Sins of the Father

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

As part of an officer exchange program, Klingon Commander Kurn has requested to be placed aboard the Enterprise as first officer. His harsh Klingon command style aggravates the crew, though he takes it easy on fellow Klingon Lieutenant Worf. Worf confronts Kurn about this alone, prompting Kurn to reveal he is Worf's younger brother. When the rest of Worf's family left to the Khitomer colony, he was left with Lorgh, a friend of their father Mogh. Kurn was raised as Lorgh's son, unaware until recently that Worf had survived the Khitomer massacre. Kurn tells Worf that Mogh is being charged posthumously as a traitor in the Kitomer massacre by Duras, the son of Mogh's rival, which will mar the Mogh family name for generations. Worf requests an urgent leave of absence to defend his father's honor. Captain Picard believes that Worf's actions as a Starfleet officer in his father's defence will reflect on the Enterprise and Starfleet, and directs the Enterprise to the Klingon homeworld so they may monitor the events. En route, Kurn volunteers to be Worf's Cha'DIch, a second to stand with Worf during the challenge. Worf agrees, but warns Kurn to not reveal his bloodline just yet.

 At the High Council, Duras reveals evidence of Mogh sending Khitomer's defense codes to the Romulans. Worf challenges this, but is told privately by the aging K'mpec, the Klingon Chancellor, to drop the challenge and return to the Federation. Worf discusses this curious request with Picard, who also finds it strange and orders his crew to examine the evidence. Meanwhile, Duras has ambushed Kurn, aware of his true bloodline, and attempts to get him to betray Worf. Kurn refuses and is seriously wounded in the ensuing fight, no longer able to support Worf in front of the Council. Picard accepts Worf's request to take Kurn's place.

 The Enterprise crew finds evidence that the Khitomer logs have been modified and soon discover one more survivor of the massacre, Worf's nurse Kahlest. Picard is able to convince Kahlest to help Worf’s challenge; she knows Mogh was loyal to the Klingon Empire but does not know who the true traitor was. Picard brings Kahlest to the High Council and bluffs that she knows who the true traitor was, starting a heated dispute that is sure to end in needless bloodshed. Infuriated and as a means to halt the bickering, K'mpec calls Worf, Picard, Duras, and Kahlest into his private quarters and reveals the truth; the Council is well aware that Duras's father was the Khitomer traitor, but exposure of this, given Duras's high political position and capital, would certainly lead to an unwanted civil war within the already trouble-stricken Empire. The Council only accepted Duras's charge of treason against Mogh believing that Worf would not challenge it due to his Federation citizenship. To prevent further upheaval, K'mpec imparts that the Council will condemn Worf and Kurn, but Picard refuses to let this blatant injustice stand, thus creating a situation that could end the Klingon-Federation alliance. Worf, seeing what restoring his family's honor may cost, steps in and says he understands what he needs to do, that the only course of action for Worf is to accept a discommendation, tantamount to admitting his father's guilt. In exchange, the knowledge of the proceedings, including Kurn's true bloodline, will be undisclosed. Back in the council, all of the assembled Klingons, including a reluctant Kurn, ceremonially turn their back to Worf in disgrace, and he and Picard silently leave the hall.

Review:

This is probably the most influential episode of Next Generation in two key areas.  First, a lot of what is now accepted canon regarding the Klingons, including showing their home world and the immortal line “today is a good day to die” are established here.  Second, it’s the first episode to end in such a way that a follow-up story was virtually demanded, putting TNG on the path to ending its obsession with isolated one-shot episodes.  By extension, it also made the eventual spin-off shows of Deep Space Nine and Voyager possible; neither of those shows could have enjoyed the great season-long/series-long story arcs that made them if TNG hadn’t first opened itself up to that same kind of story arc.

 It’s a great Worf episode that nicely compensates for the lack of any issue exploration with how well if fleshes out Worf’s backstory and the Klingon race in general.  It’s well-acted, and Tony Todd does a great job playing the role of Worf’s younger brother Kurn for the first time.  The only downside is the lack of issue exploration means I’m not getting as much to talk about with this episode, but then I had more than enough to go at there with the previous episode.  Overall, I give this episode 9 out of 10.

Episode 18: Allegiance

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Captain Picard, while sleeping in his quarters on the Enterprise after the successful completion of a mission, is abducted by an unknown device. He finds himself in a cell with two other prisoners: Starfleet Academy Cadet Haro from Bolarus IX; and civil servant Kova Tholl from Mizar II. They are later joined by the violent Esoqq from Chalnoth. While they have meager beds and facilities, their only source of nutrition is provided by a tasteless rubbery disk, which Esoqq is unable to eat. He moves toward Tholl as though to eat him, but Picard is able to dissuade Esoqq temporarily. Picard attempts to learn why the four of them have been abducted but can find no connection. Picard organizes Haro and Esoqq to attempt to break the lock on the only door to the cell. Initially foiled by a stun beam when they tamper with the controls, they manage to override the beam and then defeat the door's security, only to find a blank wall behind it.

 Meanwhile, on the Enterprise, a doppelgänger of Picard has taken his place, ordering the ship to delay a scheduled rendezvous with another ship and travel slowly to a nearby pulsar. En route, Picard's double exhibits behaviour that the senior crew begins to question, such as showing romantic interest in Dr Crusher, as well as engaging the crew in singing "Heart of Oak", the official march of the Royal Navy, in Ten Forward. Upon reaching the pulsar, Picard's double orders the ship to be moved closer, potentially exposing the crew to lethal radiation. Commander Riker and the rest of the bridge crew refuse to follow his orders, effectively removing him from command due to his perceived unfitness for duty.

 After discovering the false door in the cell, the real Picard deduces that Haro is not who she claims to be, as she knows details of a secret Starfleet mission that are unavailable to Academy cadets. Picard observes that the four different alien captives and the tightly controlled setting are suggestive of some kind of experiment: Tholl, the collaborator who goes along with whoever is in charge; Esoqq, typical for his species, a violent anarchist who rejects any kind of authority; Haro, the cadet, sworn to obey orders without question; and Picard, a leader, trained to command. Haro reveals herself to be not a Bolian, but a member an unidentified alien species. She reverts to her natural form and is joined by a second such alien; the two have been studying the concept of authority and leadership, as their race lacks hierarchical authority structures as humans and other races do. Because the captives' knowledge of the experiment has now made it impossible to continue collecting data on their natural behavior, the aliens return Picard, Tholl, and Esoqq to their respective original locations.

 Aboard the Enterprise, Picard's double is also revealed to be of the same alien species, all members of which are in constant telepathic contact, which the aliens remark is far superior to the vocal communication used by the beings aboard the Enterprise. When Picard criticizes them for engaging in kidnapping and assault, the aliens express ignorance of the morality Picard espouses, and indicate that they will need to study this concept further. However, Picard uses a series of nonverbal cues to direct his crew to trap them within a force field, causing the aliens to panic as they are unable to bear captivity. After a few moments, he releases the field and allows them to go free, but warns them not to abduct others again.

Review:

This was apparently a second bottle episode that, in conjunction with ‘The Offspring’, was to off-set the over-spend used on ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise’.  It’s also the first in a pair of Picard-centric episodes that go back-to-back but don’t inter-connect beyond who they focus on.  According to notes on the Memory Alpha wiki, we’re supposed to getting inside Picard’s head a bit by having the real Picard getting landed in an alien race’s equivalent of a rat maze, while a Picard double conducts his own kind of experiment on the Enterprise, acting on aspects of Picard’s personality we don’t normally get to see.  A key example of this is the Picard double acting on the real Picard’s past with, and attraction to, Beverly Crusher in a way the real Picard can’t.

 In this sense, the episode is interesting, but falls flat in other areas.  Not only do we not get to really learn what the aliens have learned from their study of leadership and authority, but when Picard temporarily imprisons two of them near the end of the episode, he claims imprisonment is an assault regardless of justification.  I’m sorry, but the Enterprise has a brig, a ship’s jail, to imprison people who misbehave, and it’s been used twice this season already.  Imprisonment is not an assault unless it is mis-used.  What Picard should have been objecting to was abduction and being experimented on, not being imprisoned.  The former would have made sense and been right, while the latter makes him look like a totally bloody hypocrite.  Clearly this aspect of the episode was not well thought through, and as such I give this episode a meagre 6 out of 10.

Episode 19: Captain’s Holiday

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Strongly pressured by the crew of the Enterprise, Captain Picard reluctantly agrees to take a vacation on Risa, a pleasure planet. Shortly after he arrives, he is kissed by a woman he has never met, in her attempt to fend off a Ferengi named Sovak. Sovak accuses Picard of conspiring with the woman, Vash, who has in her possession a data disc that he wants. Picard has no interest in the quarrel and returns to his room to discover two "Vorgons" who identify themselves as time-traveling police agents from the 27th century, searching for a powerful weapon called the Tox Uthat capable of stopping the fusion reactions of a star. The 27th-century scientist who invented it travelled back in time to hide it. According to their historical records, Picard will locate this object on Risa.

 Picard confronts Vash about the Tox Uthat. She claims to be the former assistant of an archaeologist who discovered the location of the Uthat, gave her the disc for safekeeping, and died. Picard and Vash use the information on the disc to determine the Uthat's hiding place. When they arrive at the location where the Uthat is buried, the Vorgons appear to witness the discovery of the Uthat. Sovak then arrives with a phaser rifle and has Picard and Vash excavate the site at gunpoint for hours. However, the Uthat is not there. The Vorgons leave, confused because this doesn't line up with their historical record. Sovak, in his obsession, refuses to believe that the Uthat isn't there, throws away the rifle, and starts digging while Vash and Picard return to the resort.

 After their arrival, the Enterprise returns to pick up Picard. He catches Vash attempting to sneak away from the resort and surmises that she arrived days earlier, located the Uthat, and devised a ruse to fool Sovak into thinking the Uthat was lost. She reveals the hidden Uthat and the Vorgons reappear, demanding it. When Vash suggests that the Vorgons may have ulterior motives, Picard has the Enterprise use the transporter to destroy it. The disappointed Vorgons reveal that Picard has acted just as their records said by destroying the Uthat, admit defeat, and leave. Vash and Picard have a final intimate exchange before they say goodbye to each other.

Review:

This is the second Picard episode on the trot, and if you can bear with the interminable period between Picard’s arrival on Risa and him teaming up with Vash where he’s being very stiff and stubborn, not to mention guest actor Max Grodénchick’s character of Soval being the typical irksome Ferengi, then it’s a good episode.  It’s got an interesting Picard-as-Indiana-Jones vibe to it, and apparently this was born out of Patrick Stewart noting his character had a lack of combat and seduction scenes, something this episode nicely compensates for. Part of this is done through the character of Vash, who makes a great foil for Picard from a romantic, moral and intellectual standpoint, and it’s fun to see the two of them together in this episode.  Another part of it is the introduction of the pleasure planet Risa, which Trek returns to a few times in later episodes/series.

 According to Memory Alpha, Gene Roddenberry was a major fan of the idea of Risa, and he wanted some same-sex couples in the background of the Risa resort scenes, echoing an idea Whoopi Goldberg had for ‘The Offspring’ regarding Guinan teaching Lal about flirting and romance. However, both times the other show-runners nixed this because back then network censors would never approve anything like that.  Doubtless this is why Trek’s first same-sex kiss, and indeed one of the first lesbian kisses on TV ever, didn’t occur until the Deep Space Nine episode ‘Rejoined’, about five-and-a-half years after this episode.  Have to say, this is the first time in a while where Roddenberry’s ideas about a TNG episode sound like good ideas to me.

 My only real criticism of the episode beyond Picard’s initial scenes on Risa and Sovak’s initial scenes generally, and the network nixing of Roddenberry’s wishes, is the lack of any explanation for what the Risian custom of jamaharon.  Throughout this episode and all subsequent uses of Risa in Trek, there is mention of people seeking this by displaying a Risian symbol of sexuality known as a horga'hn, but no one ever explicitly states the meaning of the word.  Now granted, explaining anything connected to sexuality in the world of Trek could be seen as something TV just can’t allow, or at least not back when TNG first brought Risa to TV audiences, but I would think given the supposedly enlightened nature of the world of Trek, someone somewhere could have defined the meaning of this term more explicitly somewhere, even if it was just in some sort of tie-in literature.  After all, there’s been plenty of other tie-in media, such as publishing the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition.  Somehow, I think a tie-in book covering everything about a pleasure planet like Risa, including what jamaharon means, would not be an unreasonable idea.  My score for this one is 7 out of 10.

[sohotthateveryonedied]

I really just want the third season of young justice to explore the emotional and psychological toll hsving to fake Artemis' death, lie to the team, run the team, bludhaven and gotham, and having his best friend taken from him has on Dick. I want to see him struggle to cope. Honestly I need to see this for the whole team! But especially Dick after isolating himself. I want to see Artemis brong pissed at him for doing so! And her struggling to cope with everything and feeling she lost Dick too!

Anon, as of now you are officially my favorite person in the whole wide world! I'm sending you a virtual hug right now, because this is exactly the kind of angsty and emotional stuff that NEEDS to be in season 3. 

It makes so much sense that the team would be pretty fragile and emotional after all the traumatizing stuff that happened in season 2. I mean they lost the cave which was a home for so many of them, for months they were convinced Artemis was murdered by one of their friends, they were betrayed by Jaime (thought that wasn't his fault and anyone who wants to blame him can fight me), Jaime was on mode for weeks and was just screaming in his mind because he had no control over his body whatsoever, Bart carried the burden of being the only one who knew what the future was like and being the only one who could save it, their mentors left and went to space court for the whole season, these young adults and teenagers were put in charge of defending the whole world all by themselves, four of them were captured by the Reach and tortured for like a week after the cave blew up, everyone thought Kaldur, their old friend and leader, was a traitor and that he wanted them dead, AND they lost Wally, who was close with each of the senior members of the team and they're all completely devastated. The team can't be fine after that. Season 2 was like their own personal failsafe mission, but this time it's real and it's horrible. Any normal person wouldn't be fine, and just because they're superheroes doesn't mean they can just get over the things that destroyed them emotionally and shattered their hearts to pieces over and over again. 

And like you said, especially Dick and Artemis should be struggling. Artemis and Wally quit the gig because they wanted to keep each other safe, and then two seconds after deciding to go back her boyfriend dies?? She had gone for months undercover without seeing him, and I'm betting that Wally filled her every thought. But the second she's back and they finally can be reunited he dies and she's alone all over again. She finally had everything back, but the second she actually felt happy again for the first time in a long time it all got ripped away from her by the world like some kind of sick game. If it were me, I don't know how I would go on. Wally was her anchor in life. Her family were a trio of criminals and assassins, two of which try to kill her on a daily basis, so by now her trust issues have trust issues. But with Wally, she actually let him in. He's one of the only people she lets close to her emotionally, and so she's tied to Wally in a way. He's her flashlight in darkness, but now he's gone and how can she cope? She's devastated and even changed her hero identity because just thinking about Wally hurts her and she needed to get away from all that by being Tigress. I need to see Artemis in season 3 clearly struggling and having a hard time doing things when she's reminded of Wally, and after a while the team starts to notice so Kaldur or M'gann decided to talk to her about it and she just. Breaks down. And the thing is that Dick was both her and Wally's best friend and he knows exactly what she's going through, so if anyone could have helped her in this difficult time it would have been him, but he's suffering just as much so he can't be there for her when she needs him most.  

And I know that some people were mad or just didn't understand why Dick left the team like that, but I get it. Wally was his best friend. And not even just his best friend, Wally was like family to him. Before season 1, Wally was the only person Dick trusted enough to reveal his identity to. Do you know how huge that is? Bats don't take something like this lightly, but Dick was close enough to Wally that he had no qualms with showing him who he is, and that's a really big thing. He and Wally did everything together, and even after Wally quit the hero business they were still best friends and kept in touch. Heck, Dick even has him on speed dial. So I can't even imagine how much agony Dick must be in right now. His best friend in the whole world died to save it, and Dick was so distraught that he just had to get away. Being a part of the team only reminded him that they've come so far, but Wally wouldn't be there to see it. So I don't blame him for isolating himself and cutting himself off to grieve his best friend. I think the team and the league, especially Bruce, will start to care after a while and try to bring him back to the team, but Dick really just needs this time to cope. He's already lost more in 19 years than most people will lose in their whole lifetime, so isolation is just his way of dealing with the tremendous emotions he's feeling. 

It should be Artemis who goes to find him and bring him back to the team, because she's the only one who really knows exactly how he's feeling. The others loved Wally and they miss him of course, but Artemis and Dick loved him more than the others will ever understand and they are the two who will need the most help in getting over their grief. Especially because not only did Wally die, but everything that happened in that whole season just piled up and piled up until eventually Wally disappearing is what broke the dams and by the time the smoke cleared the two were just shattered inside. I want to see a scene where Artemis is yelling at Dick for abandoning the team when they needed him most and telling him that he's not the only one who's hurting right now, and then Dick is yelling back because no one understands and he just wants everyone to leave him alone for once. And Artemis is like "you think you're the only one who's hurt by what happened? I planned a future with him! I had a whole life with him, and you think that just because he's your best friend you get to be like this?! You think you get to lose it?!" And then suddenly Dick just breaks down completely. I don't think he would have let himself cry after Wally's death because he's one of the bats, you know? He's supposed to be tough and in control like Batman, so I think he never would have actually let it all out like he should until that moment . 

So Dick falls to his knees crying, and Artemis after a second falls with him and then they're both holding each other and crying after everything they've been through. The last few months have been so emotionally taxing, and neither one had any outlet for dealing with the tragedy and grief of Wally dying, lying to the entire team and league about going undercover, Dick losing sleep over running the team and taking on the burden of having that responsibility, Artemis having to do horrible things undercover, it's just so much emotional baggage that no normal person would be able to come back from so easily and, despite trying their hardest to, Dick and Artemis can't get over it by themselves. (But then a couple weeks later they find a way to bring him back bc I suspect part of the reason Dick left besides his grief was bc he was trying to find a way to bring Wally back kind of like in the Red Robin comics when Tim knew Bruce was alive and tried to find him but everyone else just said he was crazy and didn't listen. So Dick tells Artemis about what he's found so far and together they work to find him, meanwhile the whole team keeps telling them they're in denial and Wally is gone for good. But eventually they do manage to find a way to save him from the speedforce and everyone is finally happy again the end)

TL;DR: I want season 3 to feel like a punch in the gut. If I don't cry at least twice I will be very disappointed. Bring on the angst, I'll take all the emotional turmoil you can dish out. Also BRING WALLY BACK!!!!!