Young Justice S02E08 – Review

By: Greg Weisman (story)

The Story: The original Roy Harper proves he can take on Lex Luthor with only one hand.

The Review: I will never understand this show’s habit of going on hiatus mid-season.  Of course, this is the same show which aired its pilot months before the rest of the first season episodes, then took a summer-long break in between.  I’m sure there are some very good practical reasons why all this must be so, but it’s annoying anyway.  You would never put up with this on a lesser show.

However, Young Justice has the good fortune of being a very good show, so it can afford its logistical oddities from time to time.  We left off last time with some fairly gnarly plot twists, and this episode shows that the creators have given plenty of thought over the summer as to how to proceed.  More than any other cartoon I’ve heard seen on American television, this series does not mess around when it comes to exploring its stories from every possible angle.

Young Justice Episode 26 – Review

By: Greg Weisman (story)

The Story: Now is the time for the students to become the masters…too cheesy?

The Review: If you ask me, last episode was really the big, team-centered climax of the season.  Once all the secrets came out and the group became just that much tighter for it, that’s when you really saw YJ as the complete package for the first time.  From now on, they’ll have moments of growth, possibly life-changing ones, even ones that will alter the group dynamic completely, but nothing really compares to that first moment when they all truly come together for the first time.

For that reason, this episode feels a bit more like clean up, an opportunity for the team to wrap up loose ends and show what this new team is made of.  But what an opportunity it is: taking on the entire League, who both grossly outnumbers and out-powers them on pretty much every level.

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.