Young Justice S02E19 Review: Titans vs. The Light vs. Aliens

Young Justice: Invasion, Episode 19: Summit

As the second season of Young Justice wraps up, we get this glorious confrontation between all three big players of this season. We get the Light and the Reach finally meeting each other in a moody little underground cave, with many big names showing up. Oh, and Aqualad and Artemis choose this point to actually outplay the villains... and honestly, at this point I really wished that other members of the Light other than Luthor and Manta had a bigger presence in this season, because I don't really have much of an attachment to, say, Young Justice's incarnation of Ra's Al Ghul or the Brain. But it's a small complaint.

And, granted, while the Summit between the two villainous group ends up being a glorified recap sequence, it's actually neat to see a good amount of the events laid out from the side of the villains, and we get a fun little pissing contest between the two erstwhile allies. Tensions are high when Black Beetle demands that the "whelp" Kaldur'ahm shut up, angering Black Manta. The Reach blames the Light for not protecting the Bialyan beetle-ex-machina temple secure, whereas the Light shrugs it off as "you didn't tell us shit!" And it's not a good look for the Reach. They lost two of their most powerful operatives, the whole soda plan was a bust, their public approval is at an all-time low, and they even failed to keep the Runaways and the Young Justice team members captured. Not to mention that the Scientist is becoming more and more vocal at her disapproval of the Ambassador's methods, even in front of their allies.

And, of course, as the audience, we actually know just how much of the Reach's failure is thanks to the Light's own machinations -- Luthor himself helped the Runaways escape and directed the Runaways to assist in freeing the Team; plus Queen Bee totally knew about the Bialyan temple.

Meanwhile, the Reach's attempts to throw their weight around just like what they attempted to do in Godfrey's show also sort of backfired, demanding that the Reach submit because they and the Earth are the "property" of the Reach, which ends up pressing some buttons in Black Manta. "No agreement exists that makes a slave of Black Manta!" And... and I really wished Manta was explored more as a character in this show instead of just being a nebulous greater-evil above Kaldur'ahm's head. Punches are thrown between Manta and Black Beetle, prompting Light agents Deathstroke and Tigress to intervene... which, in turn, puts Tigress in the pathway of Ra's Al Ghul, who realizes that she's wearing a glamour charm.

And while Kaldur'ahm manages to calm down the combatants long enough for Vandal Savage to go on a talk about how he's responsible for bribing the Rimbor court to screw over the Justice League and that the Reach's claim will waylay the Green Lantern Corps, this complication causes Ra's Al Ghul to unmask Artemis's glamour charm in front of all the villains, which, of course, is another complication in this whole deal. It's hard to say that we're rooting for the Light at this point,  but they are definitely the preferred option in this conflict... and seeing that the Light has been played as fools is not a good look for them this time around. Amidst the argument between Black Manta and the Reach agents, Deathstroke just calmly shoots both Kaldur'ahm and Artemis dead.

Seemingly, anyway, because as a final "fuck you" to the Light, Kaldur'ahm plays a recording that basically exposes both of the Light and the Reach's underhanded methods to undermine the other group to each other. In any case, the Light's many, many, treasonous acts to undermine the Reach's attempt at seizing control is now out in the open, and Savage's anger that this has wrecked his fifty-thousand-year-old plan is pretty damn satisfying. And as the Ambassador and Savage exchange threats at each other (Savage knows damn well the Ambassador can't do shit with the Warworld), we get the revelation that... Kaldur'ahm and Artemis aren't dead after all. It's not that huge of a surprise, honestly, considering how dark it would be if two of our main heroes got executed while in a deep-cover mission just because Ra's spots a necklace... but it was still pretty damn tense, and if Kaldur dies wrecking the plans of two of the show's biggest villains, it's still a good death.

But apparently the Light aren't the only ones great at manipulating events, because Kaldur'ahm and Artemis stand up... and we get the revelation that apparently Deathstroke isn't actually Deathstroke, but Miss Martian, who's replaced Deathstroke (defeated offscreen!) before the Summit even began. And then more members of the Team appear, some disguised as League of Assassin ninjas, some just crashing in for the hell of it, and it's pretty damn badass. Hell, even Kid Flash comes out of retirement! Again, it's an epic moment of role reversal  when it's the Light that finds itself at the backfoot and as pawns in a game, and it's pretty glorious. Sure, Kaldur's speeches about friendship and teamwork might be trite... but that doesn't really undermine just how badass his lines are -- especially that line about how "still you refer to us as children. No wonder our successes mount; you consistently underestimate us."

And the resulting all-out brawl is pretty damn awesome, as the twenty-something full force of the Young Justice team do battle against both Light and Reach agents. There's a lot of great fun scenes to see here, both in regular martial arts, and in fantastical powers. Some highlights include Beast Boy and Monsieur Mallah having a gorilla-to-gorilla combat, and the sudden appearance of Klarion summoning a fire snake to disable Miss Martian. (She gets saved by La'gaan in a pretty damn badass scene) It's neat that Savage actually has contingencies in place, and his talk about "the other members of the Light are indisposed" is apparently bullshit. Klarion and Savage book it, Black Beetle stabs Ra's Al Ghul through the chest and kills him (which, honestly, is kind of every weekend for Ra's), while we get a badass showdown between Aqualad and Black Manta with some really cool bits of water-manipulation. Some neat bit of editing on the episode's part, too, cutting away from the fire-themed conflict surrounding M'gann and the water-themed conflict featuring Aqualad.

The fight between Aqualad and Black Manta's honestly a bit abrupt, and I really wished we had more scenes devoted to just how Manta reacts to all this, but I guess it fits into the whole "swoop in, take them all out in the confusion" mentality of the Team's methods in this episode. What we do get, though, is a neat little reunion between Kid Flash and Artemis after all the separation they've been through. That's nice.

Again, the action scenes move fast and quick, with lots of great action sequences to showcase here. While there are certainly some central conflicts and interactions here (Black Manta/Aqualad; Miss Martian/Lagoon Boy; Artemis/Kid Flash) everyone gets a chance to shine, and despite some of the villains getting away, it's undoubtedly a good win for the Team. The Ambassador, Black Manta and the Brain are all taken down and captured, whereas Ra's Al Ghul is presumed dead. Oh, and the Reach/Light alliance is basically dust, even if they didn't quite get all of the bad guys that make up the Light, as well as getting enough evidence from the recorded conversation to clear the Justice League's name.

Oh, and speaking of which, throughout the chaos happening in the battle, we get a little bit of inter-Reach drama. Neither the Scientist nor the Ambassador really have much of a personality, but we have seen a fair bit of dissent from the Scientist and Black Beetle towards the Ambassador's leadership in the past couple of episodes -- Black Beetle just doesn't care for all the subterfuge and just wants to kill things, while the Scientist has had her concerns ignored one too many. So is it any surprise that the two of them (well, mostly Black Beetle) leaves the Ambassador out to dry? It sets Black Beetle as the real big bad for the Reach, which is appropriate since he is the character we've spent the most time with.

And we get the Team congratulating each other despite all the grief they've had after the deep cover mission, and Aqualad gets to finally become leader again... and then we cut away to the Warworld, where Vandal Savage (and presumably Klarion?) faces off against the three JLA members guarding the Warworld -- Black Canary, Black Lightning and Captain Marvel. We get them beaten off-screen, and, interestingly, not killed. Vandal Savage took the time to open a boom tube and punt the three of them into the Watchtower, before Savage activates the Warworld and takes it off to parts unknown. (Also, yes, Boom Tubes -- the episode moves fast enough that I missed the significance the first time I watched this episode, but it's actually a clever little bit of foreshadowing. )

Meanwhile, after an off-screen information dump by Captain Atom, UN Secretary Tseng rescinds the Reach's invitation. And Black Beetle is far more warlike and is determined to raze the Earth before the Green Lantern Corps arrive, leading to the final episode's conflict. One huge chunk of the season-long plotline is over and done with -- the deep cover mission and the Light/Reach storyline, and we have confirmation that the Justice League will be cleared of their charges soon. So now it's time for the final episode and some good old-fashioned superhero-vs-supervillain showdown!

Again, this episode is mostly just a huge action scene that screams "conclusion!" with the long-awaited battle between the Titans/Young Justice Team against the members of the Light and the Reach, two big bad organizations, and it's pretty damn badass. Sure, I still have my own complaints about the handling of the villains -- I really, really wished that we spent more time with the show's primary villains like Savage and Ra's and Manta, but that's honestly not that huge of a complaint. Ultimately, a great little episode with a couple  of fun plot twists at the end. It's been really fun rewatching this season, and especially reviewing it. Tune in sometime this weekend for my final review of Young Justice... until 2019 brings us the glorious return of its third season, anyway.

Roll Call:

• Heroes: Tigress/Artemis, Aqualad, Miss Martian, Superboy, Guardian, Bumblebee, Batgirl, Nightwing, Kid Flash, Blue Beetle, Lagoon Boy, Beast Boy, Impulse, Wonder Girl, Robin, Black Canary, Black Lightning, Captain Marvel, Red Tornado, Aquaman, Captain Atom
• Villains: Black Beetle, "Deathstroke", The Scientist, The Ambassador, Vandal Savage, Ra's al Ghul, Black Manta, The Brain, Ubu, Monsieur Mallah, Klarion, Teekl
• Others: Cat Grant, Tseng Dangun
• Numerous other characters are shown from archival footage in Kaldur's speech. 

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Surprisingly, we get a new character! Ra's al Ghul's bodyguard is clearly Ubu, who is introduced in the comics as a fanatically loyal brute loyal to Ra's. Ubu would later be retconned to be the name of a clan of bodyguards devoted to protecting Ra's al Ghul and his children. 
• Ubu's insistence that "the Master will be reborn!" is of course a reference to Ra's al Ghul's whole gimmick in the comics, where he can't die because he has access to the mystical Lazarus Pits, which allows him to regain his immortality at the cost of losing his sanity momentarily. Aqualad even lampshades this. 
• The bit with Kid Flash telling Impulse that he looks good in yellow and red is a reference to how when Wally West became the third Flash, Bart Allen would eventually grow into the role of the second Kid Flash.