Young Justice S02E04 Review: Finding Redemption

Young Justice: Invasion, Episode 4: Salvage

This is an episode that is mostly divided into two plot arcs. We've got a bunch of the old team showing up to try and intervene with Roy Harper (or rather, the clone Roy Harper) and try to make him stop from his self-destructive rampage to try and find the original Roy Harper -- a quest that may or may not be futile. The second main storyline running through this episode focuses on Superboy and Blue Beetle fighting returning enemies from Intergang and fighting an alien golem.

We'll talk about the second story first, because it's a lot simpler and easier to digest. After a bit of housekeeping as we see that Adam Strange and the Justice League have set up the Zeta Shield around Earth, Superboy grabs Blue Beetle out for a mission because he's irked by Lagoon Boy and Miss Martian smooching it over. Clearly, despite his dismissive attitude in the previous episode, Superboy still resents his breakup. This also gives Blue Beetle some much-needed focus, finally telling the audience that Blue Beetle's constant one-sided argument is him talking to the Scarab -- the parasitic robot creature (who Jaime thinks is created by the previous Blue Beetle) that has implanted itself in Jaime's back and is the source of his super-suit and powers.

Superboy and Blue Beetle engage in some old-fashioned 'beat down a villain'. We get the return of Intergang members Bruno Mannheim and Whisper A'Daire, breaking into the Hall of Justice and reviving those Appellaxian husks foreshadowed breifly in the previous episode. Throw in what we know about Intergang's alliance with Apokolips, and Superboy's Sphere-bike outright identifying Intergang's devices as being Apokoliptan in origin, and that's another alien race to throw into Young Justice: Invasion's theme.

The fight against the combined golem quickly goes haywire as the remote controlling the combined Appellaxian golem is destroyed, and we get a neat little display of Blue Beetle's shape-shifting robot suit. It's able to shoot sonic beams, scan things, shoot giant staples to imprison people... and the Scarab is this hilariously violent "devil on your shoulder" who keeps telling Jaime to be more violent in using the Blue Beetle suit.

But all of this superhero fighting ends up being part of a bigger conspiracy. We get to see recurring villain Sportsmaster converse with the mysterious Partner from the previous episode, distinguished by a very distinctive voice courtesy of Kevin Grievoux. And also by Sportsmaster's insistence on calling him by the term "Partner" every second line. The Partner helps Blue Beetle and Superboy take down the Appellaxian from behind before Blue Beetle can try to negotiate with the sentient Appellaxian. It's a neat little mystery added to everything that's going on, and Superboy and Blue Beetle return to see the two Intergang members they stapled to a tree completely lobotomized by Sportsmaster and the Partner. It's an interesting little action scene that builds up a neat amount of mythology around Blue Beetle and helps to add another layer of mystery behind the Light and their mysterious Partner.

But the bigger story for me this episode is Roy's storyline. See, cloning and doppelgangers have been one of the most-abused plot devices in superhero comics (alongside amnesia), and there are a lot of times that these sort of 'cloning blues' just aren't explored well or are laughably poorly written. But this story, following Clone Roy Harper as he tries desperately to find the original, is a great follow-up to the otherwise "LOOK AT THIS PLOT TWIST" revelation last season that the Roy Harper we've been following all season long is actually a clone. The combined squad of Nightwing, a retired Wally West, Green Arrow, Black Canary and Guardian/Jim Harper comes up to give Roy a bit of an intervention.

Roy is driving himself ragged in his single-minded search, stealing money from the people he takes down, pushing away everyone who wants to help him (instead of finding the original Roy) and his body's honestly quite in a sorry state, as demonstrated by Black Canary's attempt to get him to spar with her. It's a neat adaptation of the comic-book Roy's self-destructive phases while also tying in to the surprisingly interesting new backstory with Roy being a clone. It's interesting how the show will go from here. It's a story of having Clone!Roy come to terms that he's his own person, because, as Nightwing helpfully points out, just because he's not the original Roy doesn't mean that he's not a real person. Because, after all, he is the Speedy and Red Arrow that the Young Justice Team and Justice League had fought alongside.

The voice acting and the direction for this episode really makes Roy's emancipated, addled mannerisms and lashing out amazingly well. Everyone offers Roy empathy and an explanation. Jim Harper himself is also a clone, and also the fact that the original Roy has most likely already been disposed off by the Light. Nightwing and Wally come as friends, Green Arrow and Black Canary as parental figures (not a particularly good one in Oliver's case), and they all tell Roy how much he's hurting himself, but Roy angrily pushes everyone away and brushes them off, intent on his single-minded pursuit of finding the original Roy Harper, who may or may not be dead. It might have been driven by guilt over his betrayal, by self-loathing because he's a clone and an unwilling traitor, and by so many other reasons, but the series really works with Roy's bad headspace really well.

Roy's story this episode ends with Cheshire showing up in his apartment (with baby Lian!), with the revelation that they have married during the timeskip, and Cheshire offers one last chance and one final lead that the two of them can take to maybe find the real Roy Harper somewhere.

I think the other big revelation this episode is what happened to Wally and Artemis, after Aqualad's shocking revelation in the previous episode. Both Wally and Artemis have retired, focusing on college. The show gets slightly risque by re-introducing Artemis as walking around in nothing but an oversized shirt, but the scenes between Wally and Artemis are extremely supportive as they discuss Roy. Wally and Artemis's civilian life is actually a neat little inversion of just how different and peaceful a family could be, a stark contrast to Roy and Cheshire's relationship. Overall, a slower but very powerful episode.

Roll Call:

• Heroes: Red Arrow, Green Arrow, Adam Strange, Dr. Fate, Captain Atom, Black Lightning, Zatanna, Lagoon Boy, Miss Martian, Malcolm Duncan, Blue Beetle, Snapper Carr, Beast Boy, Superboy, Nightwing, Black Canary, Kid Flash, Guardian, Wolf, Artemis
• Villains: Whisper A'Daire, Bruno Mannheim, Appellaxian Golem, "Partner", Sportsmaster, Chesire
• Civilians: Lian Nguyen-Harper

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Lian Nguyen-Harper is also the son of Roy Harper and Cheshire in the comics, although Cheshire was a lot less supportive as a parent in the comics.
• The first acknowledged appearance of the Scarab, the mysterious alien mechanical parasite that gives Blue Beetle his powers. Jaime is under the impression that the Scarab was created by Ted Kord instead of it being an alien, though. 
• Jaime also makes a reference to Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle. In the comics, Ted Kord was the successor of the first Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett, who had found the Scarab and channeled its power under the impression that it's a mystical talisman. Ted Kord, his successor, was unable to unlock the Scarab powers, and instead relied more on gadgets to fight crime. His death in the comics was famously the catalyst for Infinite Crisis. 
• The Appellaxians are featured in the original run of Justice League of America as a group of aliens able to take the form of elements around them. JLA: Year One would retcon the Appellaxian invaders that the JLA fought as merely host bodies that are able to take over a particular element. There are seven Appellaxians in the comics (Wood King, Stone God, Fire Giant, Crystal Creature, Mercury Monster, Glass Man and Golden Roc), although only four -- the wood, stone, crystal and golden golems -- are featured here. 
• Wally West retiring from being Kid Flash to focus on his civilian life is a major plot point during the earlier stories of The New Teen Titans. 
• The whole storyline of Roy Harper driving himself to self-destruction is, of course, a reference to the award-winning Green Lantern/Green Arrow two-parter "Snowbirds Don't Fly", which featured Speedy dealing with drug addiction, one of the first superhero comics to actually tackle the issue of drug addiction.