And you'd think with it even being animated in Flash on Canadian tax credit, it would be immune to this sort of budget-saving measure. Apparently not.
This episode really seemed to be the writers venting on the limitations that I'm starting to think are
partially why the show is the way it is. I remember one of them saying about "Serious Business" how they'd never be able to make the episode if Khary Peyton wasn't the voice of Aqualad. Then seeing the episode and noting how he's the
only one of them that talked, that struck me as the showrunners would
love to have many more voice actors beyond the five VA's the usually have and the occasional one other as a guest. No freaking wonder why this was the only DC comics show WB wanted to continue. Not only is it cheap, it's
really cheap. Cheaper than the writers want. That's why they
do have so many of these bottle episodes.
That said, these Meta episodes are what makes the show better than it is, and it's why I can draw enjoyment from it. I
loved "Fourth Wall." Heck, I even liked "Return of Slade" for being the trolliest middle finger to the fan base possible. It's just the episodes where they obsess about something stupid I don't care much for, unless they do something fun with it. The one where Cyborg is obsessed with that one song was good for both the visuals and the homage to Transformers the Movie (bonus points for having the character who is also the voice of RID Grimlock turn into Optimus Prime). It's just that the last bunch of episodes got stale and generic. Even the April Fool's Day one really should have been 11 minutes of what they did at the end instead of Family Guy-esque gags.