Young Justice S02E13 – Review

By: Greg Weisman (story)

The Story: Artemis begins to think a life of domesticity doesn’t sound so bad.

The Review: I’m no history buff, but I’m pretty sure that every superhero team in history has included a combo of those with superpowers and those without.  A lot of the time, those without powers have to possess some quality that makes up for it: prodigious physical abilities, mastery of certain skills and talents, or genius intellect.  Nowadays, the non-powereds tend to come with something else: true grit and sheer verve.

Now, let’s take a close look at Artemis.  Obviously, having no powers is a major downside.  In the martial arts department, her archery rivals is just a step below that of Red Arrow and she certainly doesn’t come close to Nightwing in hand-to-hand combat.  She doesn’t have the tech prowess or pure intelligence as other heroes, either.  So ever since she started this double agent gig, the show got us wondering, Of all the people in the world, why this retired C-lister?

Young Justice S02E05 – Review

By: Brandon Vietti (story)

The Story: Who says girl groups are dead?

The Review: Obviously, the biggest difference between this and last season is the team’s roster, which has grown a little bigger and a lot more colorful.  The writers have so far kept the focus on the returning characters, though they’ve wisely given the newbies substantial parts to play, getting us used to their presence.  Now seems the right time to get to know the rookies better, as they do represent the future of the team—unless we get another time jump in season three.

Of all the new members, Blue Beetle is a natural to break out.  His versatile power set, bizarre origin story, and racial and urban appeal make for a potent combination, and thanks to a cult-favorite ongoing and a Smallville appearance, he’s perhaps more familiar to us nowadays than you might expect.  But I’d say the biggest factor in his favor is he gives the show access to a whole realm of stories it’s only just now exploring: the socially relevant.

Young Justice Episode 9 – Review

By: Nicole Dubuc (writer)

The Story: Isn’t forgetting what you’ve done for the last six months just the most annoying thing?

The Review: When it comes to supernatural fiction, some plotlines never go out of style.  Here’s an especial classic: take a cast of characters with some history, wipe their slate clean, see what new (or old) sparks pop up.  Once things return to normal, you also get the fun of seeing how they deal with the fallout from their tabula rasa behavior.  Obviously the lost memories bit has a lot of potential for a fun premise and for overturning the status quo of things.

That’s why it feels a little too early in the show’s life to bring in this plotline already.  The dynamic among the characters is still too raw; they haven’t worked or known each other long enough to have deep-set prejudices towards any of their teammates.  Only Artemis and Kid Flash have a strong, mutual chemistry worth exploiting during their memory loss, so half the episode feels like an obvious ploy to play out their romantic tensions.

In fact, Dubuc turns the whole episode into an excuse to move forward on the team’s two love stories.  Even Miss Martian’s confrontation with Psimon ends up becoming a sappy moment for her and Superboy, a relationship that felt forced when it was thrown into our faces in the pilot.  At many points it feels like Dubuc tries too hard to throw them together, overshadowing the illegal alien tech intrigue going on, a link to some exciting, possibly Fourth World connections.