Young Justice S03E03 Review: Anagram For Bedlam

Young Justice: Outsiders, Season 3, Episode 3: Eminent Threat

Are we just starting every episode with a TV segment setting up the whole metahuman-trafficking status quo? While kinda neat, I can actually see this one get old a bit quickly, especially when this episode's Beast Boy segment is basically a rehash of the previous episode's, only done in the style of an interview... with Courtney Whitmore of all people? Was Stargirl ever a reporter in the comics? Anyway, between season 2 and 3, apparently Beast Boy is dating Queen Perdita of Vlatava, who Kid Flash rescued all the way back in season one. It's a neat continuity detail that I guess helps to try and world-build with Count Vertigo's prominent role in this season's opening arc? Again, the scene is harmless, but I can also see this particular gimmick getting old quickly.

But the rest of the episode basically ends up forming a neat cap on the season's first mini-arc that takes place over the first two and a half episodes. And, just like Young Justice in general, I am actually impressed at how much they drew from the comics while at the same time keeping everything fresh to tell its own story. The entire mini-arc basically serves as a backdoor origin story for Geo-Force (Prince Brion Markov) and Halo ("Halo-Girl"), while also establishing the dynamic between the new Outsiders team -- particularly Black Lightning. It's basically the first couple of issues of the original Batman & The Outsiders comics, only with Nightwing instead of Batman, and with the whole metahuman trafficking thing thrown in and integrated near-seamlessly. As someone actually familiar with the original material, I am definitely impressed.

Anyway, the episode picks up where the last one left off, with Brion Markov basically being "tarred" and turned into an earth-manipulating metahuman. Nightwing, Tigress and Black Lightning all make their respective ways to assault Vertigo's base, and it's pretty interesting how Nightwing, again, only interacts with Oracle when he's alone. They get some cute moments going on with Oracle trolling Nightwing with the little beetle-bot.

Meanwhile, Count Vertigo's bad day continues as he walks in on Jace having turned Brion into a metahuman, while Simon Ecks is just denying any culpability in it all. Ecks isn't wrong. We learn a bit of Helga Jace's bizarre motivations, where she apparently thinks that this would allow them to 'get away' from Bedlam's control. Count Vertigo isn't having any of that, though, and with an angry "IGNORANT PEASANT!" knocks dr. Jace to the ground, citing that, as per normal in a Young Justice cartoon, there are far, far bigger plans in play. We get Team Nightwing's take on this, I suppose -- with the help of Markovia as a metahuman-trafficking hot spot, the Light (who gets name-dropped for the first time this season) gets metahumans, while Markovia will help Vertigo take over neighbouring Vlatava. Neat to see that addressed, and while Count Vertigo is still clearly the 'starter villain' of this season, it does help to add flavour to him specifically being around.

And then Baron Bedlam himself shows up, revealing that Bedlam isn't the crown prince Gregor, but rather the very militaristic brother-in-law. And I do absolutely love that moment where Nightwing slaps himself in the face for not realizing that "of course! DeLamb is an anagram for Bedlam!" Ah, silly Silver Age civilian names for superheroes and supervillains, how I love it when someone makes a gag about you. By the same token, Simon Ecks' supervillain name, of course, is Dr. Double-X, not that it's actually spoken out loud by anyone. I also find it actually pretty neat that everyone calls Bedlam by just "Bedlam", sans Baron, until the reveal, which is actually a neat bit of making the Bedlam reveal feel a wee bit more impactful.

Anyway, with the villains in play and that little mystery solved, we get action scenes. Artemis and Black Lightning face off against Plasmus, and are severely outmatched with Black Lightning's malfunctioning powers... and then the Sphere and Dead-Girl shows up, with a fun bit of "no kill". Artemis then nicknames Dead-Girl "Halo-Girl", confirming that, yes, this Middle Eastern lady is indeed Young Justice's spin on classic Outsiders character Halo. It's definitely a fresh take on the character, and those that aren't quite as geeky as myself about DC superheroes end up getting to see some neat action scenes as Halo shows off her mysterious powers. Force fields at first, but we get to see her do other sorts of tricks later on.

Unfortunately, much to Black Lightning's horror, the team's -- and particularly Nightwing's -- focus on saving Superboy and Prince Brion first ends up causing Count Vertigo to Boom Tube the other metahuman kids away. I do like that the episode is ambiguous enough as to whether Nightwing could even make a difference if he dropped anything and ran towards the kids at that moment -- it's a little gut-punch even if the mission is ultimately successful. We did get a brief argument between Black Lightning and Nightwing later, but it's kept brief as the mission ends up taking priority.

(Also, the Boom Tube is a neat nod to how the Light is definitely working with Apokolips, if the Parademons in the season premiere hasn't already clued you in.)

And while they did manage to blow up the base, as well as rescue Brion, Superboy and Halo... more problems show up when Brion suddenly manifests those geological-manipulating powers, and it's pretty horrifying to see him suddenly melt the earth and sink inside, tunneling around like a panicked mole, before rising up covered in lava. It's nice that it's Superboy that ends up telling Brion how to control his powers and calm down from the overwhelming strength. Pretty neat!

Definitely happy, by the way, that we didn't end up with a huge "Superboy in distress" plot thread, and Superboy only spends time in the pod for like ten minutes before being rescued. I really do feel that Superboy is one of the few members of Young Justice's original cast that feel the most under-developed, and I definitely would love to see more of him.

The second half of the episode ends up being a fun bit of badmouthing the heroes, with Baron Bedlam running into the castle and using some doctored imagery to accuse Prince Brion of being a filthy metahuman working with the traffickers. Meanwhile, we get a neat bit of team-fighting with Count Vertigo leading Plasmus, Dr. Double-X (who already have superpowers!) and... and some random henchman with Apokoliptan weapon? He's credited as "Henchy", so I guess they just didn't want to crowd the scene with too many named villains? Regardless, the fight scene ends up being pretty neat, with the huge smokescreen giving a nice bit of backdrop, while the many, many Double-X clones ends up likewise being pretty neat. I do like how Team Nightwing is actually at a disadvantage at first -- Tigress and Nightwing being non-powered; Black Lightning's powers are unusable, while Halo's very confused.

A pretty horrifying scene was when Plasmus suddenly charges in at Halo, grabs her face and burns half of her face off. And we actually do get to see the aftermath, and it isn't pretty! Young Justice hasn't really been a bloody show in the past. Mature, yes, but never quite this bloody, and I'm not sure if this was because it's now on a streaming site instead of Cartoon Network or whatever. It's a graphic scene, and while Halo does get better (one of her powers is apparently self-healing?), the shock of seeing another dead child ends up re-invigorating Black Lightning and that is a goddamn badass moment as actual black-coloured lightning begins to crackle in the smoke. Black Lightning ends up taking a third option and breaks a mind-control device on Plasmus's body, giving us a brief Otto flashback and forcing Vertigo and Double-X to retreat.

Meanwhile, on the palace, we get Prince Brion, in full lava-rock-demon form, charging into the castle and shouting bloody murder, intent on taking out Baron Bedlam. And... and at this point, it's actually easy to see this turning into a "Brion Markov, that public menace" storyline since it does kind of look bad for Brion. But the ensuing battle ends up revealing that Bedlam is actually a rock-man himself, having been turned into a metahuman, and the fight ends up being a bit of a he-said-he-said moment as Bedlam basically claims Brion's "I had to become a monster to fight the monsters" backstory for his own.

Interestingly, it's Prince Gregor that turns out to subvert the trope, which is definitely refreshing -- he quickly points out that Bedlam has far, far more control over his metahuman abilities compared to Brion, who's just lashing out angrily, and this observation makes Gregor realize that Bedlam had way, way more time to learn to control his powers, and is thus far more likely to be involved in the insidious plot. A civilian paying attention to what the people fighting are saying? That's a refreshing plot development.


I also absolutely love that understated moment of badassery when Superboy finally decides to get in the fight after the civilians are secured, basically flooring Baron Bedlam in a couple of punches. Badass. However, while Brion is indeed exonerated, Gregor ends up being somewhat forced to exile Brion from the country due to its fragile political situation requiring a 'fresh beginning'. Of course, Ambassador Baazovi is clearly slimy, but I'm not particularly sure how much of Baazovi's comic-book backstory's going to make it into the show.

Regardless, though, the episode ends up playing like an origin story, but a very interesting origin story! And after this whole thing is over, with Team Nightwing seemingly joined by a couple of new members.... some random Markovian man with a shotgun shoots Plasmus through his brain-heart, instantly killing him. That's a huge what the fuck moment for sure, and a surprisingly abrupt and out-of-nowhere end to poor, poor Plasmus. Halo can't heal something that's already dead, and it's... it's definitely an interesting choice to have a random confused civilian be the one to kill Plasmus instead of Vertigo or Bedlam pulling a "you have outlived your usefulness" bit. I'm genuinely not sure how I feel about that, honestly, it just feels a bit shock-for-shock's sake.


Other than that bit, though, it's another pretty damn solid episode of Young Justice! It does admittedly move a bit too fast at times, but I do think that the mysteries and characterization are built up and resolved in a relatively timely fashion. I definitely have very great impressions from this first three episodes, and I'm definitely looking forward to see what's next for this show!

Roll Call:

• Heroes: Beast Boy, Prince Brion Markov, Sphere, Tigress, Black Lightning, Halo, Nightwing, Superboy
• Villains: Count Vertigo, Dr. Double-X, Baron Bedlam, Plasmus
• Others: Courtney Whitmore, Dr. Helga Jace, Prince Gregor Markov, Zviad Baazovi

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Geo-Force, a.k.a. Prince Brion Markov, was turned into a metahuman in the comics to stop an insurrection mounted by the villainous Baron Bedlam in the comics. Obtaining the power to control the earth, Geo-Force would be joined by various other heroes who found themselves in the politically-fragile Markovia for various reasons, and the group would form the first incarnation of the Outsiders.  
• Baron Bedlam, a.k.a. Baron Frederick DeLamb, in the comics is also a major antagonist for the Outsiders team. In the comics, DeLamb was not related with the royal family of Markovia by blood, but rather was an ostracized Markovian noble whose family helped the Nazis rule over Markovia during World War II. The comics version of Bedlam ended up supporting a Soviet attempt to take over Markovia, leading to the creation of Geo-Force. In the comics, Bedlam can also manipulate the earth to some degree, similar to Geo-Force, after obtaining the same enhancement process. 
• Halo, a.k.a. Gabrielle Doe, is a major character of the original Batman & The Outsiders comics. The enigmatic Halo in the comics was the result of the fusion of the corpse of a woman and an ancient energy-alien known as the Aurakle, resulting in the birth of the amnesiac but very powerful woman known as Halo. Halo was able to manipulate 'halos' of light, with each colour of the rainbow manifesting different effects. 
• This version of Halo, in addition to having her race changed, also seemingly omits the whole 'alien possession' thing. 
• Stargirl (parsed as "Star Girl"), a.k.a. Courtney Whitmore, was the teenaged stepdaughter of retired golden age superhero Stripesy. In the comics, she stole the gear of her stepfather's old partner, Star-Spangled Kid, and ended up becoming a superhero, adopting that persona. Her stepfather would don a suit of armour and accompany her as STRIPE. Later changing her name to Stargirl after inheriting the cosmic rod from one of the Starmans, Stargirl would be a major part of the newer incarnations of the Justice Society of America. 
• An advertisement for the in-universe TV show "Hello Megan" shows up prior to the Star Girl segment.