TV Retrospective: Young Justice Episodes 11-15

Sorry this is a tad late, thanks to being in Rome and things, I forgot to put this up yesterday, enjoy

Terrors

Time for the resolution to that plot involving the ice villains you’ve probably forgotten about now. The Terror Twins are being fought by Superman and Martian Manhunter. They’re caught by Aqualad and Red Tornado using inhibitor collars.  Superboy appears, looking like Tommy Terror whilst Miss M morphs to look like her sister. They both get inhibitor collars placed on them too. They’re being transported with Icicle Jr and Mr Freeze

They flash back to Batman’s briefing. The 4 villains were easily apprehended and now all 4 of them are ending up in Belle Reeve prison, seemingly their intended goal. Their mission is to find out what the 4 of them are planning. No-one in the prison will know of their true identities, just in case the prison staff is compromised

Icicle Jr relays his interest in Tuppance. They arrive at Belle Reeve with the Warden, Amanda Waller, who in this version is not the cruel, heartless, manipulative type… she’s not really anything like any Amanda we know, I think they just used her name for recognition purposes. She introduces Hugo strange, resident psychologist who is there to give them a chance at rehabilitation. She also gives them the lowdown on the inhibitor collars, which block superpowers they can also administer shocks, the first is a warning, the second would knock you out.

Oh, and the facility has walls thick enough to keep Superman in, they checked. No-one’s ever escaped Belle Reeve and no-one ever will… uh huh, yeah, I’ve got a meme for that one. Miss M links with Superboy, the collars inhibits super strength, not telepathy but Superboy has lost his strength. Superboy and Icicle Jr and locked together whilst Miss M is locked with Killer Frost.

The ladies and gents enter the gym/canteen and we see a few new faces including Shimmer (wait, when was she caught, they never arrested her in Santa Prisca) and Devastation, she’ll come back later. Jr offers to show Superboy the ropes, they pay homage to his father, Icicle Sr. On and the Riddler tries to get involved – why isn’t the Riddler in Arkham? Professor Ojo from infiltrators and Brick, a Green Arrow villain are also in the prison. Ojo recognises Superboy but Miss M messes with his head a bit.

Superboy uses his still operational super-hearing to find out that they’re planning to best cons out of Belle reeve. Ivo delivers some new uniforms and Icicle Jr tells Supey to put them on sooner than later, Superboy warns Miss M that the breakout is imminent, they report to Aqualad and Red Tornado but without intel as to how, going in now would only postpone the breakout.

Hugo Strange questions the pair of them, Tuppance refers to Superman trying to relate to Superboy, it’s actually quite clever when you think about it. But Superboy reacts with a little hostility, but he’s kinda right, and you’ll see what I mean later on. Yes, I am saying that a lot.  In the laundry, a shipment containing another load of tech comes in. Icicle Jr asks ‘Tommy’ about ‘Tuppance’ and we’ll see her real reaction, you guessed it, later on.

Mr Freeze attacks Icicle and is electrocuted and taken to Waller, they all head back to their cells. Sr tells Jr he’s been able to contact Frost. Superboy plays up his link with his ‘sister’ to get close. Mr Freeze escapes his collars using those made up meta-powers he had in Batman Annual #1. He turns off the collars, letting all the inmates loose. But the walls are still in their way

Miss M uses her telepathy/telekinesis to stop frost from making a kill (erm… why weren’t they able to contact her again?) her cover’s blown. Waller, Strange and some guards are locked in a cell, and they begin using ice to freeze through the prison walls, Mammoth and blockbuster smash through the ice. The resulting backdraft from the blasts are sorted thanks to the insulation of their uniforms. It’s incredibly clever actually. That’s one thing this show does exceptionally well, the bad guy’s schemes are clever.

Icicle Jr and Superboy join with Killer Frost and Devastation to break down the walls. Brick threatens Waller but Hugo manages to save her. Superboy, needing some way to not have to fight everyone in Belle Reeve makes up a story about collars coming back on. He convinces Icicle Jr to handle it himself, taking down Ojo, Hook and Abra Kadabra to get to the control panel.

They head out and the collars begin activating, including the one on Captain Cold. Icicle Sr angrily attacks Waller but Hugo rescues her. Mr Freeze checks the warden’s office and sees some of them taken out by ice, confirming Icicle Jr’s involvement. Superboy turns it around, using his desire to prove himself against him. Superboy eventually takes out Mr Freeze, as Icicle Jr freezes Mammoth and Blockbuster. Superboy breaks the wall down but Killer Frost and Devastation want him dead, he easily handles both of them. Icicle Jr sees Tuppance frozen in ice, Superboy gives her the strength to escape and they kiss (relax, remember they’re not actually brother and sister). Icicle Jr is finally let in on the game. Again, for Superboy’s part, his plan was relatively sound.

Anyway, Waller’s tossed out a Hugo is now the Warden, which was the plan all along, he was their man on the inside, and he’s talking with Icicle Sr. The Riddler managed to escape during the chaos and guess what, they’re working for the light, because isn’t everyone?

Rating 8.5/10

Homefront

Artemis wakes up and sees an Alice in Wonderland poster, she remembers the day her sister decided to leave. Her mother was in prison and she refused to stay with just dad. It’s opening day at Gotham Academy. Dick takes a photo with him, and talks to Barbara (you’re guessing there’s hints to more to come, you’re absolutely right) Miss M and Supey are in a full out relationship now.

Aqualad informs Red Tornado about the possible mole, Red’s goes off to do monitor duty on the watchtower, covering for Green Arrow whilst he and Black Canary are on a hot date. Robin and Artemis meet, yeah… You can guess he already knows she’s not Green Arrow’s niece. They zeta into the cave which is being attacked.

They head for the exit but a tidal wave knocks them away. They dodge fireballs to the gym. Robin tries to call in re-enforcements but their com is jammed. They head into the air vents, with Robin downloading some blueprints so they don’t get lost. The heat begins overloading the cave’s power generators. They head into another access point with Robin deactivating their security sensors and tapping into the security feed. They see the 4 of them Aqualad oh so not subtly asking if they’re traitors but the security is taken out by explosions. They enter the library but hear an incoming thing, the voice makes them think it’s Red Tornado but it isn’t, Robin opens the secret passage and they head away.

The Red siblings warn that if they don’t surrender in 10 minutes, their team-mates will be killed. Miss M and Aqualad are locked in a fire cage whilst Superboy are trapped in stuff about to be drowned. They make it to the hangar, but only barely. They to rescue Kaldur and M’gann but they’re quickly surrounded. They dive into the water but not until after one of Robin’s disks reaches a point by KF. Artemis is panicked but upon mentioning machines Robin realises an EMP can take them out.

Able to communicate with Kid Flash thanks to the disk, he manages to convert an X-ray thing to an emp, but he needs to hook it up with the cave’s main generator for it to work. Kid Flash and Superboy use talking as a distraction whilst Robin installs the emp but there’s an incomplete circuit, he needs some metal to finish this. Artemis wastes her last arrow as Robin is caught. She gets away, just barely.

Panicked, she wants to find a way out to call in the league, he falls into the souvenir chamber with only 3 minutes before her colleagues. She finds Cheshire’s mask and flashes back to the flashback from earlier. Yeah, Cheshire is her sister. Artemis stays to be with them when her mother gets out. Artemis finds the arrow and has an idea. She surrenders to them but only as a ploy so she can fire the arrow and complete the emp circuit. The reds are shut down. Robin recovers.

Red Tornado arrives, unaware he had relationship. He came down quickly but he couldn’t arrive in time. Red Tornado interfaces with one of the machines, then creates tornadoes (note how red they are) which knock out the entire team. They wake up with Superman, Flash, Captain Atom and others have arrived but Red Tornado and his siblings are gone.

This is an intense episode, giving us a hint to Artemis’ backstory, which’ll be further explored later on.

Rating 9/10

Alpha Male

*sighs* and we come to my personal least favourite episode

Hamilton Hill and his cronies are hunting some Indian Tigers, one such tiger is within their scopes when a triangle of things knock it out, Hamilton is about to take the shot when a gorilla armed with a mini-gun attacks.

John Stuart and Captain Marvel, J’onn and Captain Atom are helping with repairs. Green Arrow gives the team a bowl of pretzels but they’re not happy, the want answers about Red Tornado. Superboy overhears Kaldur talk to Batman about the potential mole in the team and angrily rushes to him.

And none of the team are smart enough to realise that revealing that there’s a potential mole in the team wouldn’t have helped anything. Batman interrupts saying that without Red Tornado, they’ll be overseen by rotating supervisors, starting with Captain Marvel. He tells them to leave Red Tornado to the Justice League (yeah… like that’s gonna happen) but he has another assignment for the team. Apparently, Hamilton Hill made it out of there alive, god knows how.

Robin thinks this is a waste of time. It’s only the latest in a series of incidents, some of the team are reluctant to call Aqualad leader. Sphere isn’t coming but Captain Marvel is, making Robin think that they blame the team for the Red. They deploy in stealth but Robin and Kid Flash head off angrily, Superboy clings onto M’gann, wanting to protect her but she does not take this well, and she and Artemis head off, whilst he jumps off alone. Something is watching them.

Aqualad and Captain Marvel find footprints and bullets and are soon attacked by elephants. Captain Marvel is knocked back as another arrives. A tiger watches and Superboy is attacked by a bunch of grey wolves, a white wolf watches from the sides. Robin and Kid Flash are attacked by Vultures, they soon realise they’ve been juiced by Kobra venom. Crocodiles attack Miss M and Artemis, they win, but Artemis losing her quiver. She laments this is the second mission in a row she nearly drowned. With the rest of the wolves down the white wolves attack.

Aqualad notices that they’re wearing collars and he and Captain Marvel remove them, the elephants then walk away. Captain Marvel commends him for figuring it out but Aqualad laments it means there’s intelligence behind the attack. Their com is jammed and there’s no link. Captain Marvel gives the wisdom to Aqualad about his leadership. Miss M makes contact, she points out the inhibitor collars they were wearing are the ones from Belle Reeve.

Captain Marvel spots the Tiger and heads off right into a trap and is knocked out. Artemis recovers her quiver as Miss M establishes a link and as everyone argues. Aqualad finds the device that knocked Captain Marvel out and re-establishes his command. Captain Marvel wakes up in a lab, the Brain is about to cut through and take Captain Marvel’s brain. The team arrive at the base, it’s surrounded by a force-field but a good shot could take it down. Artemis makes the shot but they monkeys advance guard attacks

Mallah is sent out to help, Miss M tries to sneak past but isn’t is caught. The Tiger attacks the Brain, he’s electrocuted but Miss M pushes Mallah through the wall. Superboy and the white wolf arrives from the other side. They free Captain Marvel and the pair surrounded. The Brain turns off the lights and escapes. The wolf decides he wants to stay, and eventually apologises to Miss M. Robin finally asks why they kept it a secret. Aqualad mentions the source was Sportsmaster. Not that that matters in the end because no matter who informed them of the mole, blatantly asking who it was would’ve had this affect.

Captain Marvel returns to his Uncle Dudley, remembering to change back to his human, 10-year old form.

Yeah, this episode has some great ideas, the problem is just how stupid the team have to be for their conflict to work.

Rating 6.5/10

Revelation

Giant plant creatures begin to attack Metropolis. The test was a success. The perpetrators of such actions: Count Vertigo, Poison Ivy, Black Adam, Wotan, Atomic Skull, The Ultra-Humanite and the Joker.

Robin and Aqualad train with Captain Marvel and Zatara supervising. Batman arrives and shows the news, the plants have resumed their attack. John Stuart, Superman, Hawkman and Hawkwoman are helping fend it off. But the team has another assignment, the plant is also running on Kobra venom. It’s clear that their enemies are forming a ‘secret society’ of their own. More plants are cropping up as the ‘Injustice League’ make their demand.

Batman is informed that the UN will prepare the ransom of a fallback. Batman tells them they need to destroy the central control unit. Which means they’ll have to fight the 7 heavy-hitters. Zatara uses a spell to locate them.

Batman begins the assault on the plant in the Batplane with Captain Marvel providing assistance and Zatara, Spores begin to unleash joker’s laughing gas. Poison Ivy notes they’re putting a lot of pressure on her plant. They hear a perimeter breach alert, Aqulad has brought a duffle with a backup plan. Miss M says he ship is feeling dizzy. It’s Count Vertigo, the ship becomes visible allowing Black Adam to attack, knocking the ship into the water, at the mercy of the plants.. They manage to escape the ship but they’re all knocked down by Count Vertigo. Black Adam helps

Meanwhile Martian Manhunter and Aquaan are trying to rescue Eiffel tower visitors from the plant in the france. The Flash and Blue Devil are helping in Taipei, where they’ve targeted a nuclear reactor, Capton Atom arrives to absorb some of the radiation. Green and Red Arrow are joined by Black Canary helping in Star City. They grab a bus and prepares to throw it off a bridge but Guy Gardner catches it.

With all except Robin and Miss M knocked out, they’re soon caught by Poison Ivy and the Ultra Humanite. He prepares to fire but Miss M uses telekinesis to make the shot free them. Back in Gotham City the Batplane is knocked out of the skies. Plastic man saves a hostage knocked by  a plant fragment. A helicopter is knocked out in Paris but the pilot and passenger are saved by Rocket and the copter is caught by Icon.

Wotan holds the 4 of them in a prison cell, Aqualad tries to escape but it’s in vane. Robin’s on the ropes but Miss M says the bioship has made contact, it knocks back Wotan, freeing them from the cage. But Aqualad is minus his water-bearers and Artemis has no quiver. Her response: “I feel naked, and not in a fun way” just keep throwing those out, certain young kids won’t get them at all.

The attack distracts them long enough for Robin to attack and destroy the vine. The Joker and Atomic Skull now join the attack. Now it’s all out, Wotan gets most of them but Aqualad is able to absorb the attack. He orders plan B, the helmet of fate. Despite Kid Flash warning him not to he puts on the helmet, Doctor Fate attacks Wotan. The Joker decides he wants Robin. Kid Flash and Artemis manage to take down vertigo, but not before Kid Flash gets a broken arm.

The league finally arrives to support. The Joker has one more trick, he activates some spores, Batman knocks him and Doctor Fate absorbs the gas. Despite Kid Flash insisting Nabu won’t release him but Kent persuaded him not to. And in case you’re thinking the Helmet is one giant Dues ex Machina, just wait.

So, what a shock, this was more misdirection and we get the revelation of the real members of the Light. Lex Luthor, Queen Bee, Ocean Master, Ra’s al Ghul, the Brain, Klarion and their leader Vandal Savage.

I need to get my personal thoughts out on this one. It’s mostly an outstanding episode, showcasing the vastness of the DCU, even introducing a few characters we’ll see more of later. My problems are mostly with the ‘Injustice League’ Count Vertigo gets a better episode later, Atomic Skull, Black Adam and the Ultra Humanite are all silent and relatively boring. Wotan is generically evil. Poison Ivy is meh, I’m fine with. I don’t like this version of the Joker at all, the Joker is NOT a team player and should be too big of a wild card for the Light to trust with such an important job. The only time he felt like the Joker to me was right at the end.

Rating 8.5/10

Humanity

It’s time for a brief history lesson on Red Tornado, as this episode is about T O Morrow. He is modifying Red Tornado.

Back at Mount Justice, Wally’s milking his injury for all it’s worth, especially with Captain Marvel. Black Canary is their den mother for the week. Zatara arrives, and grants access to his daughter, Zatanna. Robin immediately takes a liking to her. They have a psychic conversation which Zatanna outs. They admit they’re talking about Tornado, it’s been weeks now since his attack and they’ve found nothing.

Superboy asks Captain Marvel to take wolf outside. They admit they’re not really making a tour; they’re hunting him down. Zatanna agrees not to tell, if she comes with. Black Canary makes contact with the bioship but they assure her they’re not leaving Happy Harbour. Black Canary argues they’re good and trustworthy before immediately showing worry on her face.

Robin suggests they need an illogical solution to find him, Kid Flash has an idea. T O Morrow reveals the origins of his androids. Red Torpedo (the one who controls water) was his first creation to infiltrate and destroy the JSA, but he never fit in. Next was red inferno aka firebrand but she sacrificed herself. Next up was Red Tornado, he managed to get in but his desire to become more human and heroic programming caused him to betray his creator.

They visit Ivo in Belle Reeve (when was he locked up again) and he does know where T O Morrow is, Miss M can’t extract that intel but Zatanna manages to. Strange sees this and isn’t happy. Morrow unveils his latest creation: Red Volcano. No infiltration this time, just destruction. Volcano approaches his creator and destroys him, he’s an android (duh!)

The Bioship approaches the location, Robin asks what Zatanna would be capable of and well, she needs to know a spell cold, or else prepare it and of course the magic requires energy from within. Aqualad expresses doubts that Red was the mole.

Red Volcano reveals the plan, causes a stage 3 volcano eruption to devastate the planet and use a red army to dominate the rest of the humans. Charming… Ivo warns them that the children are on their way. The team deploy and Volcano sends Tornado to stop them. They attack but are quickly knocked away. Red Volcano arrives, revealing that this was just an act, he’d told them to play dead. Red Volcano actually annihilates the team. He begins setting off the volcano.

Red Reactivates his vocal processor and appeals to Red Inferno and Red Torpedo, they may never have been human, but they were both heroes. Volcano grabs Miss M but thanks to Zatanna’s duplicating spell Kid Flash manages to rescue them. Red Tornado and the Reds force volcano into the lava, eventually destroying them. But the volcano is still on the verge of an eruption. Superboy manages to rescue Red Tornado. He’s needed to divert the smoke and ash from the volcano. Artemis uses her tri-missile arrow (because she totally has one of those) to vent the pressure.

They take Red back to T O Morrow’s lab and manages to repair him. He finds the real T O Morrow, he won’t hurt him, he was still his creator. Meanwhile Zatara is very angry at their disappearance, this really doesn't much effect in the long run.

Rating 9/10

Next time we’ll see the origins of sphere, an alien invasion go south, the first episode episode written by the guy who wrote the Young Justice comic, Peter David, a league/team team-up, more Count Vertigo and a story based on the origin story for the Young Justice comic.

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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