TV Retrospective: Young Justice episodes 6-10

Infiltrator

If you’ve been paying attention to the opening title sequence, you’ll have noticed there’s a 6^th, female archer on the team, we got a hint to her in the last episode but… Here is her formal introduction.

We open on Infinity Island where Roy Harper, sporting a new look is infiltrating a base, taking out security cameras and League of Shadows (because League of Assassins isn't PG-13 friendly, right Batman Begins?) guards. A scientist is told to complete the project as she’s rescued by Roy. Her name is Doctor Roquette and she’s not impressed he’s on his own. She advises there’s a device they can’t leave but with the choice being between it or her, she’s their best option. They escape on a rented speedboat with an explosion stopping any pursuit. However the project is finished, they’re good to go.

Robin, Superboy, Miss Martian and Aqualad are at the beach, Kid Flash is at school (why does their school start in August?) anyway, he’s not having the best day, as the others enjoy themselves. But when school finishes he races to cave ready to have fun on the beach but… We see Green Arrow’s new protégé, Artemis, who’s apparently his niece, she makes a hell of a first impression.

Speedy arrives, now going by Red Arrow, he’s not happy to be so easily replaced (Roy not being happy is a common theme this series, it may get old, but there is a good reason outside the superficial, we’ll get to it) Aqualad offers again for him to join the team, saying they have no quota on archers. Red Arrow debriefs the team. Roquette had created a weapon called the fog, infiltrating and collecting data whilst destroying everything in its path. Roquette is working on a virus to stop it, but she’s now a target. He decides to just leave it with the team.

Kid Flash and Artemis argue via psychic link, annoying Roquette. Aqualad points out that they need to track the fog, but to do so, she’d have to go online and that would lead the assassins right to her. Aqualad promises the protection and she goes online. Superboy is the first to hear something, but Superboy and Robin are sent in pursuit of the fog. As Miss M and Artemis argue an assassin sneaks in, she takes out Kid Flash. It’s Cheshire. Aqualad engages but her weapons containing jellyfish toxin, she’s knocked out. Artemis confronts her as Miss M rescues Kid Flash, Miss M and Kid Flash arrive, and Cheshire escapes.

Robin and Superboy report that Star Labs was the next target, and it’s completely destroyed. Aqualad decides to move Doctor Roquette and rescan for the fog. He’s doing a perimeter check and he’s taken down. Black Spider and err… I have no idea who the other one is are now also in team Cheshire. As they engage, Cheshire prepares to take the shot but it’s Miss Martian.

The next target is Wayne Industries, a building operating a 24-hour workforce. Robin even considers that the tech could be used to hack their computer systems but stops before saying everything. Cheshire heads out with Artemis in pursuit. Cheshire finds a footprint trail and follow it, taking down Artemis. Roquette is already uploading the virus. Robin enters the Wayne Tech building an accesses a computer. With the virus already uploaded, there’s no point in Roquette’s assassination, she decides to leave. Robin uploads the virus, destroying the infiltrators whilst Superboy takes out the shadow in charge

Artemis unmasks Cheshire, who she recognises, knowing that she knows a lot about her, Artemis stands down and Cheshire disappears. Artemis returns to Gotham City and is confronted by Red Arrow. He knows she’s not Green Arrow’s niece, he warns her not to hurt them

The White Ghost reports that they have the data to the Light, they respond that it’s fortunate they now have an ‘inside operative’

Artemis’ character made an interesting first impression, we’ll find out what her secrets are by season’s end, although you might know some of them if you were reading the tie-in comic.

Rating 7.5/10

Denial

We open with Kent Nelson visiting Madame Xanadu. He wants to speak with his wife, Insa. She’s a fraud in this one, Kent laughs it off but is soon kidnapped by Flash villain the Wizard (they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel for these villains) Aqualad and Superboy fight as Miss M and Artemis talk boys. Red Tornado arrives, Kid Flash asks if he has a mission as Batman and Robin are facing off against the League in a tie-in comic

Red shows them Kent Nelson, he’s been missing for 23 days. He was a member of the Justice Society of America, the precursor to the Justice League (see, nice to have some history) as Doctor Fate, the ‘sorcerer supreme’ (isn’t that title a Marvel thing?) Kid Flash is sceptic, he’s also reasonably annoying in this episode.

They’re given the key to the Tower of Fate. Kent is being tortured by the Wizard, Klarion is in the audience enjoying it when his cat alerts him to the team being outside. They watch outside, with Klarion mocking the Wizard for using tech instead of real magic. Aqualad inserts the key, revealing the tower. They enter but since they’re not recognised, a hologram of fate (magic hologram of course) appears asking them to state their business.

Wally decides to f*ck it up, I did mention he was annoying for the first half of the episode anyway. Anyway, with him lying, the floor opens up, dropping them into a pool of Lava. Aqualad and Miss M are susceptible to heat. Klarion, the Wizard and Kent enter the tower, they’re approached by a hologram but despite the very obvious he’s let through.

Miss M answers the question honestly and a platform blocks the lava. Artemis outs Wally as a non-believer, knowing that’s what almost got them barbecued. Aqualad remarks that he studied sorcery in Atlantis and that magic gave him the skin icons that power his water bearers. Wally calls it bio-electricity (uh huh?)

Aqualad opens a hatch in the platform, and they’re in a winter wonderland. They find Nelson’s cane, Artemis and Kid Flash touch it and are dragged away. Miss M questions why Wally’s so closed-minded about magic and his answer is kinda generic. Artemis and Kid Flash appear near Nelson, he uses the can to free himself and they escape.

He warns them that Klarion is a Lord of Order, the ultimate enemy of a Lord of Chaos like Doctor Fate, he’s just a coat that Fate put on until his wife convinced him to take it off. Klarion wants the helmet and if he finds it he’s turn the planet into his playground. The others arrive but Fate takes Kid Flash to the helmet, Klarion manages to follow and blast Kent dead, he tells Kid Flash to put on the helmet.

The others aren’t doing well either, the Wizard has them on the ropes. Despite Klarion that if he puts it on he may never get it off, he puts him on the helmet. He appears inside the helmet with Kent Nelson’s soul. The real Doctor Fate is Nabu, controlling his body right now. They fight, trading 5^th grader insults. Nelson’s body warns that it’s still his body and he’ll still feel the impact.

He’s also out of practice and Kid Flash does not have the affinity for the mystic arts. Doctor Fate retorts that whilst he uses a human host to maintain presence on a physical plan, Klarion uses a familiar, his cat Teekl. He attacks the cat, disconnecting him briefly until Klarion escapes. Doctor Fate and Superboy knocks the Wizard out.

Doctor Fate says he’s not going to release the body but Kent argues Kid Flash is not the right candidate but they’ll take him and see that he’s put to good use. Kent volunteers to stay and keep him company. Kent tells him to find his own ‘spitfire,’ who went let him get away with anything.

Back and Mount Justice, Kid Flash places the helmet amongst his souvenirs, for some reason he’s still acting sceptical about magic, no seriously, why the f*ck did you decide to do that, aside from intentionally to annoy her. Yeah… That’s probably it

Honestly, I can’t fault this episode, they needed Kid Flash to act the way he did for the plot to work, it’s not ideal, but it was necessary, and introduces a plot element that will get some real focus later on.

Rating 7/10

Downtime

Character development takes a back-seat to the story in the majority of episodes. That’s fine so long as the characters are likeable and the story is engaging. This episode is one of the character focused episode, which you may not realise it now, but it becomes very important to the main plot later on.

The team stands defeated by Clayface after the events of a tie-in comic. Batman arrives and uses a taser to defeat him. He decides to talk to Aqualad, and Aqualad alone. Batman says his head was not in the game (again, this is further explored in the tie-in) he wants to return to Atlantis, or someone he left behind. If he doesn’t want to be here 100% he needs to walk away. Batman does come off as harsh here, but again, it’s out of concern, he doesn’t want a repeat of what happened with Clayface without him being able to save them

Aqualad returns to Atlantis and speaks to Aquaman, who invites him to dinner at the Palace. We see Lagoon boy, who we’ll see in season 2. He sees Topo (I believe his name is) who’s constructing some kind of tapestry explaining the origin story. (Yeah, I know) Ocean Master had Aquaman at his mercy but 2 students from the conservatory of sorcery helped him out. Garth and Kaldur’ahm. Aquaman offers them both an opportunity to become his protégé, Garth decides to resume studies whilst Kaldur became Aqualad.

He asks where Garth and Tula are, they’re fighting each other under Queen Mera’s tutelage, she leaves for another class. Aqualad asks Tula to dinner, she accepts but Garth warns as they swim away that she has to tell him

In the Atlantean Science Centre, Prince Orm (and if you’ve seen Justice League, you know who he is) is shown a giant sea-star, that’s been frozen but it apparently is still alive (again, if you’ve seen the old DCAU, you’ll know what this might be) in comic-relief sub-plot Superboy is watching static when Miss Martian asks him to help cook dinner. She uses her telekinesis to get out all the ingredients but they end up splattering all over Superboy. They look at each other. Red Tornado sees Superboy, still covered watching the TV static

2 Atleantean Guards are knocked out by underwater troopers, their leader, Black Manta knocks out a 3^rd. They’re split into squads in a manner the team will use in season 2, you might realise why. They plant bombs in the sectors.

Robin is doing some gym moves, a little bitter about being left out, even punching a dent in a wall. You know, for a billionaire, you have some cheap walls. Bruce and Alfred are watching and Bruce offers that they play some basketball, covering it as Hand-Eye co-ordination. Alfred smiles (you see, he’s not so bad)

In the palace, it’s dinner time, Aqualad remarks he’s considering rejoining the conservatory. Mera remarks he’d unlikely be in the same. Meanwhile Wally, his parents, Iris and Barry are helping celebrate the birthday of Jay Garrick, the original Flash. See, the one thing they do that Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest heroes doesn’t that much is establish a sense of heritage and history, the JSA, Jay Garrick, we’ll get more as we explore Red Tornado in a later episode. With EMH it’s limited mostly to Cap and Bucky.

Mera announces that she’s pregnant, to the delight of everyone. Superman alerts of an emergency in Tokyo Bay. Kaldur swims with him, Aquaman has been told of his dilemma and relates from his own experience. As Kaldur tells Tula he’s to stay in Atlantis, Tula finally tells him that she and Garth are together. As this news breaks a large number of explosions occur. Atlantean guards help the citizens by are attacked by Manta troops. Aqualad and Tuola intervene. Orm and Mera hold off an attack as Aqualad and Tula arrive. Garth arrives but is to be attacked, Tula takes the shot for him. Mera enters badass mode, using an octopus form to kick their asses.

Garth reports explosions in sectors 1, 2, 3 and 5, but nothing in sector 4, where the Science Centre is. Aqualad goes to investigate. In Gotham City, Artemis is given a Wayne Foundation scholarship to the Gotham Academy. She decides against it until her mother plays for sympathy. That is vindictive and yes, she’s a former super-villain.

Black Manta breaks into the science centre with Manta-troopers, their sub begins breaking through the glass roof. Garth arrives to help Aqualad, Aqualad takes out 2 manta-troopers to disguise themselves but doesn’t hide his water-bearers and Black Manta recognises them immediately. Garth uses a tempest power to help out but Manta is skilled and has them outnumbered. Garth manages to destroy the rope they were using to take out the creature, Manta decides to destroy it with one of his rockets before they leave.

Not much is left of the creature, just a small fragment but it’s already beginning to regenerate. Aquaman takes it to the surface world for further study. Kaldur decides to return to the surface world. He wishes the pair of them the best, they’ll both join the team eventually but… that’s a matter for season 2. Aqualad tells Batman that he’s here, 100%, just in time for another mission

Manta reports to the light, he executed plan B but that was good enough, things are falling into place.

This is a really good episode, providing a lot of Atlantean lore and expanding some character arcs, and introducing us to Black Manta, a major player in season 2.

Rating 8.5/10

Bereft

We open with Miss M waking up in a desert in Bialya, she’s a bit confused by eventually realises she’s on Earth, she encounters an angry Superboy, who’s all rage and attacks, eventually leaving off for somewhere else.

Robin awakens and hides from some troops, he recognises them as Bialyan republic uniforms and he wonders what he’s doing in Bialya. He sees the date is September and wonders what happened to March. He thinks about radioing Batman but conveniently flashes to an instruction to maintain radio silence.

So yes, this is a memory loss episode, happens to everyone eventually. Robin sees Superboy’s uniform. At a shanty Miss M and Artemis see each other. She wonders how she got into this uniform before concluding it’s her dad. Probably wanting her to kill him. A bomb destroys the shanty and they’re both attacked by the Bialyan military.

Miss M flies over the desert, she decides to concentrate and eventually remembers she’s on a team. She tries to telepathically communicate with them. Flash races Artemis away, he’s out of snacks. Superboy attacks but is himself attacked by the military, the sound of his pain lures Miss M in their direction as Superboy takes the military out. Kid Flash trips on a rock and they’re attacked, again, this time by air drones. Artemis’ aim is put off by Miss M in their heads, but Miss M takes out the drones.

They head out to save Robin and Superboy. Psimon tries to help the military with Superboy, eventually knocking him out. Aqualad is unconscious behind them. Night brews once again as Robin finds a GPS market he’d placed earlier. Soldier are waiting in the sand to ambush him. He holds his own but eventually Kid Flash, Artemis and Miss M arrive to help.

And we get one of our innuendos ‘quit touching yourself’ we’re going to see a couple of more of these as the season progresses. Miss M links them up, hoping that their broken memories could conjoin to form a whole, great for all their time together, individually, not so much. Artemis is concerned by agrees so long as she only touches the last 6 months.

They remember their briefing. The watchtower detected a power surge in the Bialyan desert, the sensors indictated non-terrestrial matter. They were sent to find out what happened. Bialya is a rogue state run by Queen Bee, and they have the tech to intercept communication, which is why Batman ordered radio silence.

They set up a device that detects non-terrestrial activities in a nearby tent. Miss M goes to investigate. Now remembering that Kaldur is a part of the team, they go to look for him, 24 hours in a desert won’t have done him any good. Superboy is being tortured in the tent and the sphere, the extra-terrestrial object seems to respond to it

They find Aqualad but she can’t restore his mind in his condition. Miss M could carry him, but she needs to find Superboy, he didn’t exist since months ago, he’s not surviving off memories. She feels him in pain and flies away. Robin warns that he still doesn’t know what ereased their memories. She finds Superboy but is found by Psimon.

They enter a psychic plane, Psimon tells her to forget, just like before. She detects that the sphere is alive. Psimon made them forget and because the link was open it affected everyone else. Miss M fights it this time. Robin and co hide from the military. Artemis tries to cover her father by referencing an old movie. Robin creates a smoke distraction.

As the psychic battle causes things to levitate, Superboy begins to awaken, the super-cycle breaks free and frees Superboy, he makes contact with Miss M, bringing him into the psychic plane, Miss M uses that link to save his mind, plus give him a few other details that might come into play later. And Psimon did sod all during that. Superboy and the super-cycle take out the military but the battle is causing severe damage in the phsycal realm. Superboy re-enters the astral plane and helps fend Psimon off. Superboy wants to keep the sphere, it’ll come into play later. Psimon reports but it doesn’t really matter, what matters is the test of their partner’s delivery system, a boom tube. It’s a shame that aside from one episode this amounted to very little. Unless of course YJ gets a season 3.

It's another fantastic episode, which really delves into some character stuff.

Rating 9/10

Targets

In Taipei, a summit is going down between the independent leaders of Rhelasia. The summit is breaking down and they’ve agreed to bring an independent arbitrator. Roy contacts Aqualad, wanting to know the height of Cheshire, he suspects she’s here to assassinate the arbitrator.

A police escort brings in the arbitrator and Cheshire begins an attack. Roy stops the rocket as Cheshire attacks, Roy brings her into a position that forces her surrender. The arbitrator is Lex Luthor.

Cheshire is arrested, Lex vouches for Red Arrow, releasing him from the police. The attack hasn’t helped the peace process, both sides blame the other for attack. Red Arrow points out that Luthor is profiting off the war by selling munitions to both sides but Luthor points out (as more people in the real world could) that investing in a peaceful united Rhelasia would make the war income like pocket change.

Luthor wants Red Arrow to find out more, Red Arrow doesn’t want his money but Luthor laughs that off. Superboy is working on his bike, to Sphere’s jealousy. He and Miss Martian are about to attend school. Megan Morse, Miss Martian asks what he’s planning to call his alter-ego. Miss M’s favourite name is Connor, J’onn suggests Kent, M’gann thinks it’s in memory of Kent Nelson but really it’s another link to Superman’s alter-ego.

He turns his shirt inside out, which would usually show to reveal his identity. And yes, that really is the extent they hide it. Roy interrogates Cheshire but is getting sod all other than some flirting remarks. She dives down as her cell wall is bursted open. Sportsmaster has come to rescue her, something she’s less than happy about. Roy heads off in pursuit. They head off in a helicopter but Roy lays a tracker on it.

Sportsmaster and Cheshire are greeted by Ra’s al Ghul, calling Luthor a thorn in his side, he sees Roy immediately, really so Sportsmaster and Chesire attack. Sportsmaster breaks his bow and has him cornered. Sportsmaster calls Roy ‘Broken Arrow’ this will be relevant later.

At school, a guy skateboards into Superboy, it’s Marvin, as in Marvin and Wendy. Mal Duncan and Karen aka well, we’ll get to that in season 2 arrives, cool him off. A lot of them are wearing superman logos. Snapper Carr is a teacher. Miss M is invited into the ‘bumblebee’ cheerleading squad

Roy is knocked off the roof, barely avoiding an explosion. He calls in Aqualad’s help. Back at the summit, Roy alerts Lex to the shadow’s threat. Snapper does this thing they do in movies but rarely in real life where they show news footage and asks for the students’ thoughts on it (well, maybe they do it in America, they don’t here) Miss M remarks that something similar happens on Mars, white Martians are treated as second class citizens by the Green Majority. If you’ve read the original comic where Miss M is introduced, you’ll probably guess where this is going.

The peace summit continues as Luthor brings in tea, Aqualad quickly recognises her as Cheshire and blocks her path, but the tea case she’s carrying is explosive. Aqualad uses the water in the room to block the blast. Sportsmaster and some league agents arrive, the Rhelasian guards help against the assassins whilst Red Arrow takes Cheshire and Aqualad Sportsmaster. Luthor watches on

Megan auditions for the Bumblebees with Connor watching from the stands. They cover her in water as an initiation ritual, which Connor almost reacts negatively to. Sportsmaster remarks that has an inside source. Red Arrow activates the sprinklers, giving Aqualad enough water to takes out most of the assassins. Cheshire uses a grenade to escape, as the final league assassin is defeated by Mercy’s newly revealed arm cannon. This gets the generals’ attention and they sign a treaty which leads reunification.

Red Arrow asks is Aqualad if there is a mole. Aqualad will investigate quietly, Roy remarks that the team has his respect and he’ll help out if needed. Luthor celebrates a job well done with Ra’s al Ghul, they’re both part of the Light.

There really isn’t much to the school stuff other than furthering the romantic stuff between Superboy and Miss M, but the rest of the episode is fantastic

Rating 8/10

Join us next time where we’ll have incest, another innudendo, my least favourite YJ Villain, the Light is fully revealed and Captain Marvel tags along and we’re introduced to the team’s final member

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Images/clips used in this review are from Young Justice. and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use