Recap / Batman The Brave And The Bold S 2 E 22 Cry Freedom Fighters

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• All of the Other Reindeer: Upon being invited by Uncle Sam to join the Freedom Fighters, Plastic Man is only too happy to pretend to be patriotic because of this trope. As he says, he was never wanted on any team before, with even the Justice League giving him the boot at one point.
• Batman Cold Open: Stargirl requests Batman's help against Mantis. The Dark Knight isn't available, so Blue Beetle shows up instead, much to her irritation.
• Batman Gambit: Blue Beetle deliberately acts childish and immature to make Mantis angrier, which makes the villain sloppy and easily distracted. While Mantis is fuming about Blue Beetle's antics, Stargirl zaps him from behind.
• Berserk Button: Doll-Man doesn't take kindly to Plastic Man thinking his name sounds silly.
• A Day in the Limelight: Blue Beetle takes part in the Teaser story instead of Batman.
• Deadpan Snarker: Stargirl makes her fair share of sarcastic one-liners upon meeting Blue Beetle for the first time.
• Distracted by the Sexy: When introduced to Phantom Lady by Uncle Sam, Plastic Man can't help but be distracted by how attractive she is.
• Follow the Bouncing Ball: After Batman realizes that Plastic Man is trying to get everyone on Qward to use their combined patriotism to bring Uncle Sam back to life, he convinces the Freedom Fighters and Telle-Tig to sing along. The song gets sung again only this time, the lyrics are on the bottom with Plastic Man himself serving as the said ball.
• Grew a Spine: The Qward citizens after hearing Plastic Man's inspirational Rousing Speech.
• Head-Turning Beauty: This is exactly what Plastic Man's first impression towards Phantom Lady is.
• Hero of Another Story: The Freedom Fighters received a warning about the Qwardians' plot on Earth from the leader of the local resistance movement.
• Hypocritical Humor: The teenage Blue Beetle responds to Stargirl's sass with, "Teenagers."
• Late to the Realization: Upon being told it's Election Day, Plastic Man finally understands why there are so many flags around.
• Male Gaze: Happens with Plastic Man towards Phantom Lady.
• Mondegreen Gag: Plastic Man's version of "Yankee Doodle" has several garbled lines — fortunately, as Uncle Sam said, it's the spirit and intent, not the details, that count.
• Noodle Incident: The exact circumstances of why Plastic Man got kicked out of the Justice League. With how this episode's about him learning to be a team player and believe in something bigger than himself, though, we can probably hazard some guesses what it was like having him on the Justice League.
• Recognition Failure: The main story ends with the then-President Barack Obama calling the heroes to congratulate them; Plastic Man doesn't know who he is.
• Rousing Speech: To restore their confidence to stand up to the Supreme Chairmen, Plastic Man reminds the Qward citizens to not let the Supreme Chairmen make them too afraid to rebel against him.
• Shout-Out: One of Plastic Man's facts has him mistakenly mangle the names of John Paul George (a famous general) and then adds Ringo to the mix.
• This Is Unforgivable!: After the Qwardian citizens tell Plastic Man how the Supreme Chairmen treats them, Plastic Man decides something needs to be done about him and so he rallies together all the Qwardian citizens to even the score. This goes in their favor as Plastic Man gains the confidence he needs to effortlessly defeat the Supreme Chairmen's goons.
• We Need a Distraction: In order to bring the Supreme Chairman to justice, Uncle Sam, Batman, and the rest of the Freedom Fighters go undercover to infiltrate Qward.
  • When Plastic Man comes to rescue the others with Uncle Sam, Batman thought him singing "Yankee Doodle" was this so he'd have the time to pick the locks around his wrists. But it ends up becoming Subverted when he notices that Uncle Sam's hat was moving and regaining power, and he quickly realizes that he's trying to bring Sam back to life, so he convinces the others to sing along, which is enough to bring Sam back to full strength.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After Plastic Man confesses to an ailing Uncle Sam that he doesn't see himself as patriotic.
  Plastic Man: I just wanted to be apart of something. I don't deserve to be a Freedom Fighter.
  Uncle Sam: Memorizing names and dates doesn't make you a patriot; that comes from the heart and can't be faked. I believe in you, Son.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Barack Obama's stunned reaction to Plastic Man not knowing who he is.

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