Young Justice S02E16 Review: Conspiracies Collide

Young Justice, Season 2, Episode 16: Complications

We cut away from the huge scope battle that covers the whole Reach/Beetle storyline and go straight into the tense conclusion of the drama-packed Aqualad/M'gann/Artemis storyline. And in retrospect, 15 and 16 probably should've been swapped, so we can be done with this particular storyline and focus on the Reach storyline. Still, that's a minor complaint -- "Complications" is still a pretty good episode, and helps to fix some of my problems with "The Fix" in regards to the relative ease of the repair of Kaldur'ahm's mind.

Still, while Nightwing and the remaining skeleton crew investigates where the Team was abducted (we get to see some actual detective work from the once-Robin!), finding some odd discrepancies with Jaime's half-truth story about how a Boom Tube appeared and how he was blindsided. We sort of get brief check-ins with Nightwing throughout the episode, but that's about the only real B-plot in this episode.

Anyway, the huge, huge multi-layered conflict between multiple characters in the Manta Sub is done exceptionally well. M'gann and Artemis-disguised-as Tigress have fixed Kaldur'ahm's mind, and are trying to figure out how to properly escape. Black Manta is impatient, and demands M'gann fix Kaldur's mind now or die, while Deathstroke trails in his mini-submarine with an itchy trigger finger ready to blow the depowered M'gann up at the slightest bit of resistance. Oh, and to avenge Artemis, Sportsmaster and Cheshire have shown up,  ready to murder Black Manta and Miss Martian.

And while the Titans are trying to figure out how to properly fool Deathstroke and Black Manta and get free, we have the attack by Sportsmaster and Cheshire. And the close-quarters combat really gave us some of the best action scenes from superhero cartoons, particularly the intense clash between Manta and Sportsmaster, with the two of them being particularly bloodthirsty. I don't know what sports object is shaped like a goddamned morning star, but Sportsmaster sure got a fair amount of mileage out of that.

Meanwhile, Cheshire attacks Miss Martian, whose attempts to telephatically explain the fact that Artemis is, y'know, not dead, fall on deaf ears. And wouldn't you? Cheshire is ready to murder Kaldur'ahm, who can't move because Deathstroke is watching, causing Cheshire to fight a basically unpowered Miss Martian... pretty horrifying setup which, thanks to Young Justice's willingness to have bad things happen to its heroes, was actually pretty dang tense. Throw in the moments when Tigress-Artemis is forced to fight her family members, and it's pretty great! Cheshire's sheer cold-bloodedness is also well-shown -- she clearly is a woman driven by hatred for the people she deems responsible for her little sister's death, and it's pretty awesome, really. Eventually Artemis does manage to disable all combatants involved, and reveal the whole Artemis deception thing.

We do get a fun bit where Sportsmaster -- who clearly have no real love for Artemis but is pleased enough that his kid is "playing the Light for chumps" -- help out to blow up Black Manta's main control to wipe out any sign of Artemis's treachery. We also have a fun bit where Miss Martian pretends to unleash her full power and go all Punisher-mode in trying to kill all the villains, before vegetable!Kaldur totally chooses that time to "attack" M'gann, which Black Manta reads as Kaldur'ahm being spurred into action when he saw his father in danger.

It's emotional manipulation at its finest, and I feel more than all the other deception that went on in this episode, Kaldur pretending to be awakened from his vegetative state to protect his father is particularly well-done. I just really wished we actually spent more time with Black Manta, who doesn't really have much of a defined personality beyond being evil and also ever-so-slightly honourable. We also get a bit of a four-way battle to close out the episode with Deathstroke, Tigress, Sportsmaster and Cheshire, as well as Miss Martian swooping in, pretending to be an out-of-control, vengeful superhero.

The episode ends with a couple of brief scenes -- Cheshire telling the fact that Artemis is alive to their mother; Nightwing figuring out Blue Beetle being compromised; and Black Manta inducting Kaldur'ahm into the inner echelons of the Reach/Light alliance. It's definitely a solid win for the Team's black ops agent. Kaldur'ahm and Artemis remain deep-cover agents, Kaldur's mind is cured, M'gann manages to escape from the Black Manta sub, and Kaldur'ahm's credibility is even strengthened.

Ultimately, the episode is quite simple, dominated by a single multi-layered conflict. And how much you like this episode really depends on how much you're invested in this particular conflict, which, in my opinion, is delivered relatively well, all things considered. Ultimately, the episode isn't the strongest of Young Justice's material, with the misunderstandings being cleared with a simple mind-meld, but the way that we reach said mind-meld, with multiple plot devices and characters in the way, is actually pretty intense. 

Roll Call:

• Heroes: Aqualad, Tigress, Miss Martian, Nightwing, Dr. Fate, Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, Rocket, Kid Flash (flashback)
• Villains: Deathstroke, Black Manta, Green Beetle, Cheshire, Sportsmaster, Icicle (flashback), Terror Twins (flashback), Vandal Savage, The Ambassador