Here we are two episodes into the new series, and they’ve already got a really long way towards addressing and overcoming my reservations about the previous series, “Ben 10: Alien Force.” This new show is brighter, fuller, generally funnier. While it still feels like our characters are operating in a big vacant world where there’s usually only three or four people, there are at least other people walking by in the background.

And so it’s done. The series is over and done. Alien Force has ended. This series was originally intended as a two-season arc-driven series, mostly centered around the “DNAlien” threat, which reached it’s climax in the last couple episodes of Season 2, in a multi-part finale. Ratings were unexpectedly good, and so Cartoon Network agreed to extend the show by a year, and postpone the development of the next Ben 10 spinoff accordingly.

Grrr. Is there anything worse than an episode where the audience is deliberately misled into thinking there’s real peril going on, only to find out that it’s all just a training exercise? Really, it’s just the worst bait-and-switch available.

PLAY BY PLAY

Ben has a cold. While attempting to cure it with a Bitteroot and Ecanasia smoothie, Tetrax the diamond guy shows up, and forces Ben to change into Diamondhead, then pounds him until his body shatters and releases Chromastone. Tetrax gives him a red jem, and Chromastone flies away.