User blog comment:Thailog/Ep. 206 "Bloodlines" discussion/@comment-1185312-20120603230528/@comment-1185312-20120604003152

Wally, to me, was uninteresting in season 1. Admittedly, I did like Wally early on in the season because he was different from the rest of his team members. How was he different? He was normal. By episode 8, you get the idea that the guy has a good life. He is not dirt poor, has an extended family that loves him, and is in a close relationship with his mentor. He was the normal teenager who just so happened to have powers, compared to the others who were all facing problems in one way or another. All Wally has is girl problems.

His normalcy--as I would describe it--though attracted me to his character initially, was what repelled me later on. While all the other characters were growing or falling apart, Wally just stood there. His character became boring; his girl problems became annoying.

His power also became a bore. The guy is fast, but I soon noticed a pattern of him failing miserably at something, or doing nothing spectacular. Aside from "Coldhearted," the last time I was visibly impressed by Wally was in "Drop-Zone," when he took out those goons. After that, it was just him tripping over marbles, or taking a goon here-and-there and disappearing.

Honestly, I feel this is one of the areas Greg failed miserably on. It seems to me he has no idea what to do with Wally half the time. A moment that convinced me the most was first in "Misplaced." At the end, Aqualad told Kid the plan. I was actually interested in what Kid's role would be. When I found out, I was disappointed. Kid's role was to run fast, snag the jewel, and throw it to Dr. Fate? That's all? Aqualad was right there! Why couldn't he do it? And then we have him being alley-hooped by Sportmaster into a tree in episode 25 and disappearing for the remainder of the fight. Good job, Kid.

I have more reasons, but I do not want to belabor my point. This is my opinion. Wally, to me, has show no purpose to me, but Bart does. He has both the powers and plot to give him relevance. Kid's relevance was tied to being Artemis' future lover and being Dick's best friend, which I feel should have been touched on more.

Anyway, I will take this time to apologize to any Wally fans for the apparent "attack." It was not my intention.