Young Justice S02E19 – Review

By: Greg Weisman (story)

The Story: No one’s back is safe in this arena of betrayal.

The Review: Gah, gah—this is the second to last episode of Young Justice.  Did you hear that?  We only have one more episode before it all ends.  I can hardly believe it myself.  I always hoped that this show would go the way of Justice League (Unlimited or otherwise): a cartoon staple, one everyone will look back on as a high-water mark for American serial animation.  To think that it’s getting canned before its time is heartbreaking, to say the least.

For one thing, I can’t think of any other cartoon currently running that takes its characters as seriously as this one does.  I never felt that the show’s writers ever took advantage of the team’s youth to deliver sloppy, silly, or haphazard personalities or behaviors.  All YJ ever wanted was to be recognized for their efforts and treated with respect, and they have always gone above and beyond to earn that recognition and respect from everyone.

Young Justice S02E10 – Review

By: Kevin Hopps (story)

The Story: This will teach Miss Martian to look before she leaps—into someone’s brain.

The Review: As I understand it, there’s some weirdness going on with the release of these episodes.  The official schedule set this episode to come out in January, but apparently, you can the jump on the television viewers if you have iTunes—or various “other sources,” as I do.  I won’t say more, just in case Cartoon Network’s intelligence community catches wind and breaks down my door, demanding turnover of my Young Justice episode.

They would have to pry it from my struggling fingers, too, because this was a highly enjoyable episode.  It puts on display every virtue this show has boasted from the beginning, and all the others it’s gained since its second season.  It also starts the show on the path towards the culmination of every major plotline it’s introduced in the last nine episodes.

Young Justice S02E09 – Review

By: Jon Weisman (story)

The Story: The team’s HQ may not be a Mt. St. Helen, but it sure blows up like one.

The Review: During the show’s first season, I complained frequently about how the characters didn’t seem like “real” teens, whatever that means in a world of superheroes.  As much as I appreciated that they never rushed into anything without looking first, I sometimes longed for a little more spontaneity and humor from them.  After all, what teenager doesn’t like doing something completely random and laughing a bit stupidly about it afterward?

So among the many improvements this season’s brought, I like most how much more often you laugh during an episode now.  The addition of purely comedy-driven characters, like Beast Boy, Blue Beetle, and especially Impulse has something to do with that, I imagine.  Kid Flash kind of served this function in season one, but his counterpart from the future really relishes his role as team jester.  Bart’s happy-go-lucky attitude is infection, and has the potential to draw the others into fun outings they’d never have taken with the first-gen YJers.

Young Justice Episode 25 – Review

By: Kevin Hopps (writer)

The Story: Feel free to get real with each other, kids—Young Justice is a safe place.

The Review: I’ve spoken critically about this point a few times over the course of the season, but twenty-odd episodes later, I still don’t feel a genuine group chemistry from Young Justice.  While certain pairings have developed among various members, the vibe you get when they’re all together is a friendly coworker dynamic rather than true friendship.  Besides very rare instances, we hardly ever see them interact in non-mission related circumstances.

So even though this episode offers a feel-good plot and conclusion, with all kinds of big emotional moments and characters reaching new understanding of each other, it doesn’t project a spirit of kinship so much as it does a satisfaction from a job well done.  It’s significant that rather than dwelling on the deeper level of trust they’ve achieved, they simply marvel at having yet again averted disaster.

At any rate, this is a very minor criticism, the equivalent of saying the soup tastes good, but not like ma’s.  After all, you get some major character growth in this episode, particularly from the three “outsiders” of the group.  Kudos for the choice of having Superboy, of his own accord, be the first to come clean about his secrets, without any pressure from the plot.  When you consider the rage-ridden, aloof, and stubborn clone he started this series as, this is a huge step for him, proof positive that he’s become his own person.

Young Justice Episode 18 – Review

By: Peter David (writer)

The Story: Will Artemis and Zatanna come to “Harm”?  It’s a “Secret.”  Yeah, I went there.

The Review: Unlike the Teen Titans, which brought kids together to learn the value of friendship and heroism, David’s interpretation of the adolescent vigilante on the original Young Justice comics emphasized their most irritating qualities: distractible, selfish, temperamental, petty, and recklessly impulsive (and not just Impulse either).  But he also wrote with great credibility about their capacity for idealism, cleverness, grief, and compassion.

So it’s not surprising he brings a similar mixture of playfulness and darkness to his guest episode.  Sadly, he can’t deliver the quite same tone he did on the original comics.  For one thing, he works with completely different characters than the ones he wrote back in the day, even though they share some of the same names and origins.  Take Superboy; David’s version was a hopeless swinger with a fade haircut; ours is a sullen loner with a major chip on his shoulder.

But our clone has shed some of his angst lately, and David takes advantage of that to bring back a little of his mischievous side, featuring a return of Superboy and Miss Martian’s Happy Harbor High classmates at the same time.  As Marvin goes for the “greatest prank ever” at a Halloween dance, the joke turns on him when Connor retaliates with a trick of his own.  His brings a surprising amount of enthusiasm to the ploy, even getting M’gann and Wally on the joke too.

All this is really a fun side dish to the main course of Artemis and Zatanna hitting the town.  A fun idea, and in the early parts of the episode you do get a kick out of seeing the potent combo of Zee’s magic and Artemis’ martial artistry.  But once they run into Harm, a villain David created in the old YJ days, the episode essentially becomes a “Will the girls survive the sadist?” routine.

This would be entertaining in itself, except Harm is a painfully flat character, a case that was true back when he originally debuted.  He seems, in the tradition of Cathy, innately and incurably evil.  The episode even introduces him as such, since he can wield the sword of Beowulf, which only accepts the pure of heart—“It never said ‘pure good.’”  Like anyone who skews toward the extremes of the moral spectrum, Harm is just predictable.

Young Justice Episode 17 – Review

By: Andrew R. Robinson (writer)

The Story: Someone call the doctor, because this Black Canary’s a total quack!

The Review: If I took away one lesson from both my years as a teenager and my years teaching them, it’s that kids of that age tend to resist and resent counseling the most, yet they stand most to profit from it.  By the time you’ve reached adulthood, you’ll have (hopefully) realized that whatever issues you’re going through, you’re far from the first, and ninety-five percent of the time, it’ll work out alright in the end.  Teens don’t have that kind of helpful perspective.

And no one is better equipped to lend that perspective to YJ after last episode’s fiasco than Black Canary.  While a respected Leaguer, she doesn’t have an iconic aura that can turn people skittish around her, and so comes off very inclusive and approachable.  Her advice is practical, sensitive, salty, and wise; she never oversteps her bounds or coddles her charges.  As someone who’s done similar work with teens, I approve nearly all her responses to the team’s worries.

For example, when Aqualad expresses his feeling of inadequacy as leader and tries to resign, Canary does absolutely the right thing by asking him who he feels should replace him.  Also appropriate is her telling Miss Martian to stop feeling sorry and start amping up her training so her overwhelming powers become a non-issue.  Less convincing is her calling out of Wally and Artemis’ feelings for each other, which feels less like analysis and more like matchmaking.

One of the more revelatory sessions lies with Robin, who, contrary to his eagerness to lead in early episodes, talks about how rattled and disturbed he felt in that very role last episode.  As Batman’s protégé, he learned the art of leadership from the very best, and he certainly did right by his mentor when push came to shove.  But he also learned he has no intention of emulating his mentor’s tactical coldness, making this his first step to his future as Nightwing.

Young Justice Episode 15 – Review

By: Greg Weisman

The Story: I think this is the beginning of a magical friendship.

The Review: Zatanna has a rather complicated place in the DCU and especially with the Justice League.  Originally, she came into the League as a rookie, one of its youngest, if not its very youngest, members.  While her teammates carried an experienced maturity, she had a bright-eyed innocence and humor that rang a little closer to that of a much younger hero.  Though now an honored member of the League, she still retains a certain youthful charm about her.

Very fitting then that she gets introduced to Young Justice as one of their peers.  In a lot of ways, she fills a vacuum within the team.  For one, she adds another female presence to a largely testosterone heavy cast.  For another, the team has had to deal with a lot of mystical threats with only Aqualad’s dabbling in magic as a viable defense, so having Zee as a direct answer to those situations seems not only appropriate, but ideal.

Weisman smartly avoids using Zee as a magical cure-all to the team’s obstacles by quickly establishing some limitations to her powers: familiarity with her spells, a proper source of energy, and preparation.  None of this stops her from making an impressive showing on her unofficial mission with the YJers, proving that her value to any team is less about solving their problems with some backwards words and more about manipulating the odds in their favor.

Her unpredictability not only in her powers but also in her status as an unknown factor proves crucial when the team finally has their showdown with their treacherous former mentor.  Of course, we know Red Tornado’s no traitor, but it’s necessary the team learns that for themselves, since they still hold a brisk chip on their shoulder when it comes to their League chaperones.  Hopefully, this episode marks a critical point in turning their wariness to genuine affection.

Young Justice Episode 8 – Review

By: Kevin Hopps (writer)

The Story: They say lost Atlantis holds many secrets.  No one says anything about Starros.

The Review: When the producers of Young Justice let on their show takes place on a parallel Earth, they opened up literally a whole new world of story possibilities.  They have the double-benefit of using DC canon for their source material, but molding it to their imagination.  It’s been fun exploring this universe little by little through the team’s missions, but the more you see, the more eager you get to really tramp about its locales to see what’s familiar and what’s all-new.

Aqualad’s sabbatical to Atlantis could not be a more ideal locale for seeing just how much creativity the writers will put into their world-building.  Hopps gives us everything you expect in Atlantis: the exotic, almost extraterrestrial marine life, the neo-classical architecture, the melding of ancient magic and advanced science, even its own Tolkienish language—the show’s brilliant animation brings it all to life, jumping an even higher bar of quality than it already has.

The reimagining of the Aqua-family is also stellar.  Some people wondered at the choice of Kaldur’ahm as Aqualad, but Hopps cleverly shows both Garth and Tula having chosen the Atlantean conservatory of magic as their vocations.  Guest stars include Aquaman’s wife Mera, half-brother Orm (kudos for making him actually look Inupiat), and royal science advisor Vulko.  Even Lagoon Boy and Letifos make cameos.  If you’re an Aqua-fan, this episode is practically catered to you.

Easter egg fun aside, Hopps writes an altogether sound episode, opening right in the middle of a mission gone awry, and Batman chalking it to Kaldur’s homesickness.  It’s not great we don’t see how Kaldur is supposedly responsible for the whole deal, but the scene itself works (note Bruce Greenwood’s excellent voice work as Batman) and the trade-off is we get to Atlantis that much sooner.  Kaldur’s interactions with his ocean friends and family give him some much needed personality, but I think we all just have to accept he’s the strong-and-silent type of the team.

Hopps also brings plenty of underwater action with Black Manta and his forces facing off against the Atlanteans and the Aqua-family (minus Arthur).  The melding of blaster guns, hydro-kinesis, and spell-slinging makes for visually and physically spectacular fight sequences.  It’s also good to see that writers are really embracing the tough broad Mera that’s popularized in Brightest Day. Manta comes off smart and formidable sparring versus both Aqualads, and his quest for Starro is marred only by the fact that we don’t get to see the alien starfish in action—not yet, anyway.