Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Disney Channel’s wonderful, Emmy Award-winning Marvel cartoon, is back for its second season. Picking up directly from the first, the season begins with Lunella Lafayette and the Beyonder finding themselves trapped on a strange world, where the latter is unable to use his awesome cosmic powers. The two then set out to salvage a ship to traverse a black hole home, all while Lu taught the alien how to be, well, human.
1. Deja Q
I’ve commented before on how similar the dynamic between Lu and the Beyonder is to the one Jean-Luc Picard and Q had on Star Trek: The Next Generation, what with the Beyonder and Q both being omnipotent tricksters and all, and the premise here parallels the third season episode “Deja Q,” where Q’s brethren punished him for his misbehavior by stripping him of his powers. Likewise, both episodes feature the enemies said tricksters have made coming out of the woodwork, eager to exact their revenge now they’re vulnerable. Kevin Feige, who (lest we forget) is Marvel’s chief creative officer on top of being President of Marvel Studios, is quite a Trekkie, and given he suggested the show use the Beyonder, I can imagine he’s tickled pink by the similarities.
2. Babysitting a Grown Man
It’s also an amusing coincidence we have a story about Laurence Fishburne’s character actually having to do things now, given how Morpheus famously responded when Neo asked why his eyes hurt in The Matrix (“You’ve never used them before.”) This brings me to how Lunella was effectively babysitting the world’s oldest (cry)baby, teaching him how to feed himself, or to be careful, as he constantly moaned about having to do anything without his powers. The scene where Lu taught him how to braid his messy hair was particularly sweet, and striking: I would’ve never imagined her essentially mothering or acting like a older sister towards him. It was all very good fun, and I must also add I’m glad they avoided the question of toilet-training the Beyonder.
3. Multiverse Really is All the Rage
Among those who accost Lu and the Beyonder on their journey are Devil Girl and Moon Dinosaur, alternate universe variants of our title duo. When you bring in the Beyonder and his nemesis Molecule Man, you also inevitably bring in the multiverse, given the former was born beyond our reality, but the multiverse doesn’t always mean parallel worlds (contrast the realms we visited in both Doctor Strange films.) So it was a pleasant surprise to see Lu and Devil’s counterparts show up here, and it’ll be interesting to find out how and when they’ll arrive on the show’s main Earth. One thing’s for sure though: Moon Dinosaur is as much of an oversized puppy dog as our Dinosaur. (Fetch!)
4. Beyonder Should Make Amends
When Molecule Man (Edward James Olmos) shows up, revealing he’s responsible for Beyonder’s predicament, he explains the orange one wrecked the beautiful resort world he created with a game of “galactic golf.” I was surprised Lunella decided to fight him, instead of making the case Beyonder’s experiences have made him change and grow, but I suppose her maternal, fight-or-flight instincts kicked in. Also, Beyonder didn’t really mature at all, simply taking the opportunity to swipe the wand Molecule Man created to nullify his powers while he was distracted, instead of making a stand, telling his nemesis it’s him he wants, not Lunella. None of this is a complaint by the way: it’s clear Beyonder is a work-in-progress, and we’ll see by the end of the season whether he becomes a better person, or even worse.
5. Lunella’s Scariest Enemy Yet
Molecule Man nearly kills Lunella, in a really harrowing and intense sequence that really sells the trauma she is now living with after reuniting with Devil, Casey, and Mimi. She must’ve felt all the more broken, having spent the whole episode teaching Beyonder he can do anything if he can put his mind to put it, only to realize how tiny and powerless she was against someone so formidable. It’s a dark turn, but perfectly consistent with Lunella being a 14-year old, as well as other Disney Channel cartoons like Amphibia and The Owl House, which weren’t afraid to get bleak between largely lighthearted episodes. There’s also definitely parallels to Tony Stark’s PTSD after his cosmic near-death experience in the first Avengers film, which I’m sure older Marvel fans will appreciate (why hello, yes, it’s me, I’m older Marvel fan.)
All in all, it’s great to have Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur back: this show is only getting better and better. The first 14 episodes of the season are now available on Disney+, and we’ll continue to take a look at each episode as they air on cable in our Boomb Tube column every Monday afternoon. Until next time, have a great Black History Month, and please enjoy the song this episode’s title is a homage to:
