Young Justice S02E20 – Review

By: Kevin Hopps (story)

The Story: As if Earth’s atmosphere didn’t have enough problems already.

The Review: There’s a reason why sitcoms usually go for an hour when they do their series finale.  While half an hour may be enough to deliver a neatly wrapped story for that one episode, a finale has more than just one story to resolve.  Over the course of a show’s lifetime, you have a lot of individual plot threads that need revisiting, loose ends to tie up, and of course, plenty of goodbyes, not just among the characters themselves, but between you and the show, too.

Although I have no evidence of this, I imagine the producers of Young Justice probably fought for an hour finale only to be, as so many of us have been, cruelly disappointed by Cartoon Network.  As a result, they were forced to deliver an epic conclusion to their Invasion storyline and hit a ton of other beats besides, all within a twenty-one minute episode.  Unsurprisingly, the finale ends up speeding through nearly every scene, leaving you winded when it’s all over.

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 S02E18 – Review

By: Peter David (story)

The Story: Jaime practice his pageant wave for a future run of Mr. Young Justice.

The Review: As we get closer and closer to the end—just two more weeks, if you can believe it—it seems only natural that we begin to think wistfully of all that might have been.  One thing strikes me in particular.  I think had the show’s writers known this season was going to be their last, they probably would have tweaked the episodes to focus more equitably on the entire cast, rather than just a handful.  I definitely think Blue Beetle could’ve survived less screen-time.

Given that the big invaders of this season turned out to be the Reach, it makes perfect sense that Blue Beetle would play a major role in the overarching plot.  But the writers sort of went overboard once they inserted this idea that the whole future depends on whether Jaime winds up on the dark side or not.  That’s the real reason why we’ve seen so much of him this season; I don’t think his hapless personality and Spanglish somehow made him a breakout character.

Young Justice S02E17 – Review

By: Brandon Vietti (story)

The Story: The rescued become the rescuers; the stealers become the stolen from.

The Review: As we get closer and closer to the end of this series, I can already feel my heart growing leaden with preemptive nostalgia.  It’s just hard to believe that in a few more weeks, there will be no more epic DC animated adventures to look forward to.  No more clever cameos and no more sly Easter eggs.  No more spectacular superheroic action and no more of the most convincing teenage drama in cartoon form in a long while.  Alas, alas.

Okay, now that I’ve got my moaning out of the way, let’s focus on the episode at hand, shall we?  Even though the show has continued to use the original set of YJers for the center of its stories, it has always respected the newcomers as well.  Even with its end imminent, the show continues that tradition by once again spotlighting our runaway quartet.  Not only does this episode give them quite a few glorious moments, it promises an essential role in the finale to come.

Young Justice S02E16 – Review

By: Kevin Hopps (story)

The Story: Artemis is less than enthused when her family attempts to avenge her death.

The Review: The epic scale of last week’s episode in outer space could have easily made you forget that deep beneath the sea, there was another, no less important crisis at stake.  The YJ writers got a lot of glee out of maneuvering Artemis, Aqualad, and Miss Martian into such a precarious situation, without ever disturbing the tension already established by this deep-cover mission.  Getting our heroes out of that situation will take even greater care and cleverness.

While the trio found an effective way to stall for time, this couldn’t satisfy Black Manta for long and he springs a ticking time bomb—quite literally—on them here, spurring them to spring a half-baked plan into action.  Had they actually been able to see it through in its entirety, it’s doubtful they would’ve gotten away with it without some kind of compromise, but luckily, in delightful, superhero fashion, two wild cards enter the scene.

Young Justice S02E15 – Review

By: Jon Weisman (story)

The Story: It stands to reason that a race which envisioned the Death Star wouldn’t fall for a massive planet-destroying spaceship.

The Review: For anyone experiencing early pangs of nostalgia and grief about the impending end of this show, the show doesn’t make it easier by continuing to stick to its high level of excellence despite the doom before it.  It especially doesn’t help when the show manages to deliver not only a respectable episode, but one of the best showings it’s ever made, one that puts all its sophistication, class, and appeal right in the forefront for everyone to see.

As much as I appreciate the show returning briefly to the “Wanted” Leaguers and their trial on Rimbor, the scene only serves as a catalyst for a much bigger and more important development for our heroes back on Earth.  The introduction of WarWorld, with its zooming dissolves and brisk exposition, feels truly epic, the stuff worthy of a blockbuster action-adventure film.  For anyone wondering, this is how you inform the audience of the episode’s premise without forcing them to slog through a long, excessively detailed briefing.

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 S02E12 – Review

By: Paul Giacoppo (story)

The Story: The Earth-Reach conflict leads to the devastation of countless rutabagas.

The Review: After the show added “Invasion” to its moniker, it’s led us on a merry path around discovering the actual invaders.  The Kroloteans served as a pretty good red herring for a while, and the appearance of Godfrey heralded the coming of Apokolips (especially given the constant references of the Fourth World during the show’s first season).  Now that the Reach have started their open “invasion” in full, there’s some questions that have to be answered.

First: why invade?  There are a lot of reasons for conquest—resources, cultural pride, and pure animosity—but none of them seem to apply to the Reach.  This episode shows you they have an admittedly impressive handle on resource management.  For such a highly academic sort of species, cultural pride doesn’t quite fit their personalities.  And if they bore any real ill-will towards the human race, they’d probably be busy destroying everyone right now instead of this elaborate, diplomatic farce.

More likely than not, Earth is just one big scientific experiment to them.  Last episode, Black Canary astutely observed the Reach’s interest in the human meta-gene, and its superpower potential.  This episode, we see that “drawing out an organism’s full potential” is a running theme with these aliens, so I suspect their interest is in discovering powers they can put to their own use.  The danger, of course, is unleashing all these special abilities and finding themselves unable to control all of it.

Does the Scarab represent a solution for that particular problem?  We know that generally, these devices are supposed to assert control over their hosts, but it doesn’t seem as if the Reach can manufacture these things en masse.  Besides, as both Blue Beetle and Green Beetle demonstrate, Scarab control is a little dicier than the Reach would probably like.

And, oh yes, there’s a Green Beetle, perhaps the very first truly original character this show has introduced, and an excellent one at that.  Besides playing into the quirkier parts of YJ’s mythos (“All Martians love television,” Robin informs Arsenal), the very idea of a Martian upgraded with a Scarab’s weapons system is just rife with possibilities, doesn’t it?  True, at any second, B’arzz O’oohm* may reveal himself as a traitor, but I really, really hope not.  The team has already suffered enough and the Earth’s under a lot of pressure; can they please get a break with this guy?

For a long time this show has avoided certain clichés of teen superhero series, most importantly the tendency to fly off the handle and screw up due to youthful impulsiveness.  Obviously, the addition of Impulse challenges that good track record a bit, but surprisingly, it’s Arsenal who proves to be the most unpredictable factor on a mission.  In his defense, it’s not so much adolescent indiscretion but personal animosity that motivates his behavior, but the fact of the matter is he jeopardizes the team’s entire mission and credibility with, as Oliver Sava of A.V. Club so aptly puts it, his “crazy ass.”

Conclusion: More action than real plot development, but the episode does lay down some very interesting threads to pick up for next time.

Grade: B+

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: – Everyone loves Nightwing—even the Scarab.

– The Lexcorp rep assures that the only things used to grow their produce is “just water, nutrients, and a little Reach/Lexcorp love.”  Chilling, to say the least.

– “They don’t have pluots in the future,” Bart informs everyone.  Gasp!  He’s right—this monstrosity cannot be allowed to come to pass.

– It’s rather nice that Mr. Kent has such affection for Connor: “And I’ll take any excuse to see one of my boys.”  This show gets characters right on so many levels.

Young Justice S02E11 – Review

By: Nicole Dubuc (story)

The Story: Once again, Young Justice proves that it is not their fate to have an HQ.

The Review: Well, it’s been a long, strange hiatus, but we made it.  I must say, it’s not easy being a Young Justice fan with this unpredictable air schedule they’ve got going, but I suppose we can live with it as long we get something worth waiting for.  While some of you may have started the year with last week’s episode, some of us managed to catch that episode last year, making this week’s showing our first real foray back into serious YJ business.

In retrospect, the tenth episode was probably the better one to start off with.  It showcased nearly every member of the group, tied together a number of important plotlines, and packed in a ton of action to boot.  It was in almost every way an ideal example of the show’s appeal.  That’s not to demean this episode in any way, but by comparison, it’s much more straightforward and reserved than the one preceding.

A good chunk involves wrapping up ends left loose from the team’s encounter with the Reach under the sea.  Black Canary merely confirms what we’ve long known about the aliens’ agenda on Earth: manipulating the potential of the human meta-gene for their own ends.  Jaime actually does surprise you with his decision to reveal some fairly big secrets, some of which are not his own, but the impact of this remains to be seen.

Another chunk of the episode involves the seething tension between the remaining League and the Reach, who manage to gain the favor of public opinion in a surprisingly short amount of time, helped by the nigh-hysterical commentary of G. Godfrey*.  Still, you got to give props to the noseless invaders for their utter smoothness.  Simultaneously revealing the League’s intergalactic criminal status and showing them up in full public view are two pretty slick moves, frustrating Captain Atom’s attempts to call their credibility into question.  It’s pretty clear that the public of Earth-16 will have to go through a painful “I told you so” moment down the line.

It’s pretty amazing how many continuity details you can forget in three months.  Like the destruction of YJ’s base or the increasingly obvious problems in Mal and Karen’s relationship or even Miss Martian’s traumatic psychic attack on Aqualad.  This episode neatly brings all these issues to the forefront, a reminder of the show’s excellent long-term plotting, and even more impressively weaves them into the thick of the action.

Personally, I don’t care too much about M’gann’s switch from aggression to timidity where her telepathic powers are concerned, but it may be the very thing to jumpstart the explosion waiting to happen when everyone discovers Nightwing’s subterfuge.  Honestly, I’m more impressed by Mal’s big role in this episode.  He probably would’ve been content playing second banana to Karen forever had she given him any attention whatsoever, but since that’s not happening, his confrontation with Despero feels distinctly like an attempt to reclaim some self-respect.  More on this, please.

Conclusion: After the big high of last episode, this one doesn’t have quite as much pizzazz, but it’s a worthy sample of the show nevertheless.

Grade: B+

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: * Whom I’m just itching to punch every time I see him.  Doesn’t he just remind you of some of the most hypocritical, showboating pundits in our own media?

– Oh, yeah, Billy Batson’s grown up some, now.  No wonder he seems a little less jolly and a lot more raring for action than before.  Nice detail, YJ writers.

– I appreciate that Black Lightning’s lightning is actually black in this show.  It lends some doubt as to whether his name is actually inherently racist.

– Let’s be honest here.  It’s L-Ron who really has all the power in the relationship; Despero’s just his trophy “master.”

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.