Young Justice, Season 1, Episode 12: Homefront
A pretty cool episode, this one. One of the consistently intriguing mysteries in Young Justice, moreso than the identity of the mole or the endless machinations of the Light, is Artemis. She seems nice enough and plays along well with the others, but despite this, her backstory and connection to Cheshire is always a dagger hanging over her head. Thankfully we get some answers in this episode, if not the whole story.
The episode reveals that Artemis and Cheshire are actually sisters, which could be the connection Cheshire is implying back in 'Infiltrator', or it could be something more. We also learn that Paula Crock, Artemis's mother, is actually a criminal who spent a chunk of her life in prison, and that their father is abusive. That brief flashback between the two of them is very strong, especially since it quickly transitions to a far more happier life for Artemis with her mother telling her that she's going to be late for school. School! We get to see a hilarious moment where Dick (who, lest we forget, hasn't revealed his identity to the rest of the Team) takes a selfie with Artemis because they'll "laugh about it someday".
We also have the continuation of the mole plotline, where Aqualad finally tells Red Tornado about the existence of the mole. Red Tornado leaves Mt. Justice and heads off to the Watchtower, which means only the sidekicks are around. When Robin and Artemis returns to the base, they find it absolutely wrecked. Artemis and Robin are the two members of the team without super-powers, and while they are certainly far more skilled and savvy with superheroics than, say, M'gann or Superboy, they're also hopelessly outgunned. It's a classic moment in any Justice League/Avengers/Teen Titans type show. There is always your Batmen and Robins and Hawkeyes, the member of the team that doesn't have the superpower to go toe-to-toe with the gods and aliens, and while it's a cliche (added with the 'your base is invaded!' cliche), sometimes cliches are a good thing to use.
The enemies this time around are Red Torpedo and Red Inferno, robots that seem to be of the same build to Red Tornado but control water and fire respectively, which gives us some pretty cool visuals. It's a pretty cool bit as Robin and Artemis are forced to run around and try to make use of their base to try and stall out the two evil androids. The escape portions are slightly formulaic but still entertaining, with the added wrinkle of Aqualad trying to ascertain the loyalties of Kid Flash, Superboy and Miss Martian (and starting to discuss Artemis) before the attack. Again, while we have no direct indication that Artemis is behind the attacks, neither do we have any evidence saying otherwise either.
But Robin and Artemis still have to rescue their buddies, and we did get a fair amount of cool action scenes and some awesome trust moments (like the bit wiht the shared respirator, or Artemis's 'last arrow' thing) where it leaves no doubt that whatever the mystery around Artemis is, she at least doesn't want Robin and the others to die. We get an all-too-human moment from Artemis as she hyperventilates and panics over the fact that the androids took out all their big guns (or is it an act...?) and the two eventually manage to take out the androids... but not before Robin himself is knocked unconscious and everything hinges on Artemis getting through her own panic and focus on saving her friends.
There's a bit of an enforced-flashback-juxtaposition moment as Artemis sees Cheshire's mask in the trophy room during her moment of panic and remembers how she told her sister that they need to 'keep the family together', while Cheshire operates on the 'every girl for herself' mantra. It's a bit too cheesy, but the scripting for Artemis and her panic and her confusion is definitely well-done that I can't really fault this moment at all.
Of course, the episode ends with a cliffhanger. Red Tornado shows up, acts all surprised by the androids that look like him, before attacking the crew and blindsiding everyone. Is Red Tornado the mole, after all? It certainly looks like it at this point. Tornado escapes off-screen with his two lookalikes, while the League shows up to rescue the Team, which leaves us with a neat little cliffhanger. Yes, Young Justice is sometimes criticized for over-dramatizing the characters' faults, like Artemis's panic attack here or Superboy's angry poutings in the earlier episodes, but honestly that's what makes these characters vividly different from just being a collection of powers.
Roll Call:
- Heroes: Artemis, Robin, Miss Martian, Superboy, the Sphere, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Red Tornado, Superman, Green Arrow, Batman, Flash, Captain Atom, Martian Manhunter, Black Canary, Aquaman
- Villains: Cheshire, Red Inferno, Red Torpedo
- Others: Paula Crock, Bette Kane, Barbara Gordon
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- I'll hold off on talking about Red Tornado/Red Inferno/Red Torpedo's comic backstory if anyone's reading my reviews as they watch the show.
- Bette Kane joins the school's list of the many civilian superheroes in the high schools. In the comic books Bette is the Golden Age version of Bat-Girl (not Batgirl), niece to Batwoman. She was retconned out of existence during Crisis of the Infinite Earths, although she would still stick around as a superhero named Flamebird who joined up with the Teen Titans.
- Barbara Gordon, Dick's classmate, is, of course, the far more iconic Batgirl. Daughter of Comissioner Gordon, Barbara adopts the mantle of Batgirl to fight crime and is the third most well-known member of the Bat-family. In various incarnations, she and Dick tends to be in a relationship in some way or form.
- Miss Martian shows that martians in this continuity still has their comic-book weakness of fire. Aqualad apparently shares this weakness too.
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