"WALLY!"

So, while the episode we discuss in this chapter named 'Denial' is mostly Wally centered and his journey toward belief in things that cannot be explained with science alone; but as always there is always some real character gems with Artemis in this episode. We see in the beginning that Artemis seems to be adjusting fairly well to the team with Me'gan being the one that she seems to connect with the most, for some obvious reasons. In the first place she has not had the best experience with men in her life, so the fact that she does not readily befriend any male in the team. The other reason being, at least from Me'gan;s point of view presumably, is that Artemis is seemingly set apart from the other members of the team in terms of trust; and this will be shown for Me'gan's reasons for insecurity later on, but for now one could safely assume that Me'gan sees Artemis as a sort of test to see the character of the other members of the group. In the fact that if the team can accept someone that, although sometimes overly eager to stay on edge, can be thought of as an equal, then there is hope for the level of trust the team could have for someone from another planet.

Through this conversation Artemis has with Me'gan we begin a (thankfully) small side plot that appears from time to time during the first half of this season, which could be argued this started in 'Infiltrator', of Artemis and Me'gan somewhat fighting over Conner. Me'gan also jokingly makes a comment about Wally and Artemis making a cute couple. Once the team is told that their mission is to help a former member of the Justice Society, Kent Nelson(aka Doctor Fate). Wally right off starts making comments about how he loves magic after Me'gan says that she has great respect for those who practice magic. We do not get a line from Artemis in this scene, but the expressions of annoyance is the beginning of Artemis being the person who can be in the place of the audience in certain episodes, particularly relating to Wally.

Once the mission begins, Artemis immediately suggest that Kent's hidden fortress could be some form of technology, Wally starts to agree but immediately takes it back still trying to show to Me'gan that he believes there is a magical reason. Maybe this scene could mean nothing, but this piece of dialogue shows that Artemis is about on the same level as Wally is in forms of scientific knowledge or at the very least knowledge of technology, possibly due to her father's occupation. We can also along the episode get the idea that while Artemis is not quite as closed off about things that cannot be explained by science alone as Wally seems to be, but she is still very steeped in the world of science. Many people could disagree, but my take on this episode is a whole journey of belief and viewpoints about religion without beating the audience over the head with this idea. Using that interpretation model of this episode, Artemis does seem to be leaning more towards an agnostic where Wally is clearly an atheist.

After they enter the fortress, Wally being to eager to impress puts the team into a trap of lava. While they do manage to escape this by stating their purpose for coming, this does not stop Artemis from being angry with Wally for nearly getting them killed for the sole purpose of trying to impress Me'gan. During this argument, it is finally revealed Wally does not believe in anything not forged in science. For the duration of this episode Artemis is basically being snarky with Wally, and once they both touch Kent's cane and are transported to his location to rescue him, she acts as the middle ground between Wally and Kent. Once Artemis rejoins the team, Wally is left with Kent to fight off Klarion (a Lord of Chaos).

Artemis does not return in dialogue until the conclusion of the episode after the result of a series of events with Kent dying and Wally points on the helmet of Fate and we get an explanation of how this artifact works. In this version it works as a symbiotic relationship with the helmet containing the actual Dr. Fate Nabu as a Lord of Order, is using these people's bodies and there affinity for the mystic arts and if he dies during a battle it logically kills the host. Wally vows to find a proper host after it is agreed that he is still grounded in the world of science to be as useful a host as Kent has been for many years. This will become a major side plot for most of the first season. Artemis comes to talk to Wally about what happened once she left as he is putting the helmet on a shelf with the rest of his souvenirs. Wally still trying to pass off that he still only believes in science, so in turn he comes up with a scientific reason of what happened when he turned into Doctor Fate temporarily. Artemis still a little shocked in Wally's refusal to believe in these things, ask if that is true why does he keep the helmet? Which he responds souvenir. After Artemis leaves Wally recounts one of the last things Kent tells him in saying that he needs to find a Spitfire(what Kent refers to as his wife, a phrase that is coined by the fan base later) who would not let him get away with anything. One could tell from his expressions is that he knows it's Artemis Kent refers to, but he still goes after Me'gan for a while.

I realize this was a long one guys, thanks for sticking with me on this. I just did not think that splitting them up would have enough material in the second half for Artemis' side to justify two parts. Hope you guys had a great Christmas and have a blessed New Year. Look for more coming soon.