Young Justice, Season 1, Episode 25: Usual Suspects
So finally we go into the final two episodes of Young Justice's first season, where the season stands or falls depending on how invested you are in the whole mole subplot, and whether you believe that the Light's insanely convoluted and multi-layered plan is a poor storytelling device or a satisfactory one that allowed episodic plots while still building up into something larger. I feel that there were moments that the Light's multi-layered plan felt insanely complex for complex's sake (whatever the Riddler's supposed to do that justifies the prison breakout beyond stealing the piece of Starro through what it itself is a far-too-complex plan?) but I'm willing to suspend a little disbelief if it does give us an entertaining story.
So the episode starts off relatively cool, with the result of the League's new members -- which now includes Red Arrow, who apparently only needed to hang around the Team for two weeks -- be inducted into the Justice League. And Captain Marvel gets to keep his spot on the team! Oh, and Rocket's sidekick, Icon, ends up being inducted into the Team. It's a bit odd to have a new player in the team so soon, especially when Zatanna and Red Arrow didn't quite have as many scenes and episodes as they probably should, and Icon doesn't actually do that much throughout these final two episodes of season one beyond hang around the team as an extra fighter. Icon's role throughout this episode seems to be asking questions so Robin can recap the relevant chunks of the season, which isn't very flattering. I did like the Team not being jealous of Red Arrow's speedy induction into the League (pun fully intended), although honestly it does kind of set a bit of a bad precedent considering that I don't honestly see why Red Arrow is ready to enter the League before, say, Aqualad or Robin.
After that bit of publicity, it's back to business as usual, as the Team continues to pursue Cheshire and the chunk of Starro (god, call it Starro already) from two episodes ago. Oh, and while I didn't mention it that much last episode, the Team also found out that the Light (or at least a group that consists of Klarion and Brain) is responsible for all the recent string of villainy. The Team, intent on taking Cheshire down themselves, gets ambushed by a group of old enemies. Riddler, Shimmer, Mammoth and those Intergang goons with Apokoliptan weapons. The fight is pretty awesome, with lots of cool scenes like Zatanna unleashing a snowstorm, Artemis and Cheshire's one-on-one, Superboy's patch-fueled rampage that takes out Mammoth (and also, using powers that should be unavailable to him), and a bit of general badassery as the Team shows that they do work well as a small fighting team, routing the villains... even if Artemis gets tricked into letting Cheshire go free.
Batman's pissed-off anger at the Team for going on an independent mission without contacting the League turns into genuine praise for the good work they did, capturing three of the villains, routing the large group of Apokoliptan-weapon-wielding enemies and indirectly confirming their suspicions about Hugo Strange's involvement with the villains... and the strange biotechnology/nanotechnology combination that is created from Starro chunks.
The Team once more gets torn by accusations of a possible traitor, with possible bits of evidence pointing to the fact that Cheshire was tipped off about their arrival, as well as the whole 'Superboy has powers he should not have' thing going on. The conversation takes place as Luthor summons Superboy with the frequency that he can only hear, which, understandably, raises more suspicions.
Superboy arrives in Santa Prisca to see Luthor assembled with Sportsmaster, Queen Bee, Bane and Blockbuster, and Superboy calls out Luthor and others of his ilk as being the ones behind the Injustice League. There is a bit that seemed to show that the Team has finally broken apart, when Artemis shows up on a helicopter, notes that no one trusts her and that she's going to go with her family, M'gann also shows up, seemingly blackmailed by Queen Bee... while Luthor promises to give Superboy more of the power-enhancing shields if he would come with him... and then uses the voice command 'red sun' to stop Superboy cold.
Now obviously none of these betrayals were going to happen. Artemis did let Cheshire go, yes, but I never really believed that she would willingly go with Sportsmaster considering the bile they lob at each other. The promise of patches might be alluring to Superboy, who has admitted that he does want to be a Superman, but at the same time while angry all the time he tends to be loyal. And M'gann I don't think is that self-centered that she would betray everyone for her secret... and the show seems to be briefly heading towards that particular plot point with everyone being traitors. Of course, it's quickly shown to be nothing but a ruse...
And we get yet another flashback to the cave, to before Superboy leaves. The sudden back-and-forth is a bit weird, but I feel that it is still accomplished relatively well. Superboy tells the Team about the patches, about his half-human DNA and about his parentage from Luthor. Artemis then confesses, telling them that Superboy isn't the only one with villain DNA, telling everyone that she is the product of Sportsmaster and Huntress, and that Cheshire is her sister. (Robin naturally knew all of this already, but kept it secret because he felt she earned her place at the team). Kid Flash's snarky "okay, who's next?" followed by M'gann's revelation that Queen Bee is blackmailing her is perfect, and the Team seeming to think that it's just Bald M'gann, and M'gann's accepting sigh as she transforms into her fucking hideous white martian form. And yeah, friends and all, but every single person other than Aqualad and Superboy (Aqualad lives with Cthulhu-esque buddies, after all) gasp in horror. But that shock lasts only a while as they quickly accept that monster or no, she's still M'gann, and Superboy touchingly reveals that he knew all along since their mind-meld in Bialya.
Which is cut back and forth really well with the scenes during the battle, with the three members of the Team pretending to be subservient to their respective villainous 'handlers' before betraying them. M'gann uses her telekinetic powers to shield Superboy from Luthor's keywords, and it's pretty badass to have the Team just beat the hell out of these villains that are truly personal to them. M'gann throwing Queen Bee into a tree, Superboy manhandling Blockbuster, Rocket and Aqualad unleashing Apokoliptan weaponry to take down Blockbuster, Zatanna and Robin doing a kage bunshin no jutsu against Bane, and Artemis beating Sportsmaster and leaving him trapped in quicksand, left behind by Cheshire and kicked to unconsciousness by Artemis. The main baddies might have escaped thanks to Mercy's rocket arm knocking down Luthor long enough for them to teleport away, but they certainly won -- it's a personal victory for them in no small part by showing that working together, Artemis, M'gann and Superboy are able to overcome their personal demons.
It is perhaps a bit too convenient, but god damn if it isn't badass.
Of course, we still have one episode to go, and in the Justice League, Red Arrow puts a chip on Batman's neck... and they assemble in the central hall with every single member of the newly-expanded Justice League having been enslaved by said chips. The portal opens to allow main villain Vandal Savage to show up... and Red Arrow wakes up from his trance to realize that he is the mole all along. Does this make a lot of sense? Not particularly, at least not just yet. But we do have one more episode to go, where all is revealed... and sets up the Young Justice fighting against the Justice League.
Roll Call:
- Heroes: Superman, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), the Flash, Wonder Woman, Batman, Dr. Fate, Plastic Man, Icon, Red Arrow, the Atom, Robin, Zatanna, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Artemis, Rocket, Miss Martian, Superboy, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Captain Atom, Black Canary, Green Lantern (John Stewart), Red Tornado, Captain Marvel, the Sphere
- Villains: Cheshire, the Injustice League (pictures), the Riddler, Shimmer, Mammoth, Lex Luthor, Mercy Graves, Queen Bee, Sportsmaster, Blockbuster, Bane, Vandal Savage
- Others: Cat Grant, Paula Crock/Huntress
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- With the possible exception of Icon, all the new members of the Justice League (Dr. Fate, Plastic Man, Atom and Red Arrow) are all members of the League at various points of the League's long, long history.
- Paula Crock's old villainous identity is revealed as the Huntress. While the more famous Huntress is the heroic Helena Bertinelli, the very first DC character called the Huntress is the villainous Paula Crock (nee Brooks), enemy to Wildcat.
- The logo of the Justice League member cards uses the identical logo as the Justice League cartoon series from the 00's.
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