Welcome back to our continued exploration into the second season of Young Justice as part of the 2018 Summer TV Binge! We are in the middle of our fifth week here and a fourth of the way through Young Justice: Invasion.
This week we get some Super Friends callbacks, a little bit of Native American stereotypes propped alongside faux feminism and more. Let’s dive in!
1. Tye Longshadow
We open this episode in El Paso with one of Jaime’s friends preparing to run away before they get captured by an unknown captor only to reappear by episode’s end still very much captured. Jaime flies off to try to find Tye, and we learn later in the episode that this is Tye Longshadow, the same name as the character Apache Chief from Super Friends.
First and foremost, this Easter egg is fun to see, especially since Justice League: Unlimited did something similar with the Super Friends that didn’t make it in to main DCU continuity. They, of course, made them villains, and so it’s interesting that Tye is de-aged here and could perhaps serve as a larger plot point down the road along with the other four teens he was kidnapped with (hint, hint). This show continues to dig into DC continuity, comics and television both, to pull things out of the top hat. Tye’s disapperance becomes part of the second plot of the episode, which has some problems in and of itself, but we’ll get there.
2. Babs is best
Ah, Barbara Gordon you are the best. We haven’t had much time with Babs yet, and really not many of the female members of the Team this season, but that all changes here. One, it’s great that even with Nightwing in charge, Babs can still yank Dick’s chain a little bit and make fun of him and exert power and influence over him. Her joke about not having to justify an all male squad made when Nightwing tells her he sent an all women squad so that Queen Bee wouldn’t have influence over them was priceless. I love that things seem candid enough that she’s able to make those kinds of jokes.
She also acts just like Dick did early in season one, sneaking off without warning somewhat, being impulsive, and following her instincts to the, somewhat, detriment of her team, although she’s far more of a team player than Dick was. Nonetheless, she seems like an extremely savvy and self-aware character, as she should be. But mixed with what’s next, perhaps faux feminism and subtle stereotypes don’t mix?
3. Native American stereotypes
It deserves saying that the Apache Chief character created for the Super Friends television show is absolutely a Native American stereotype. I think we can all agree that’s the case. No matter what the level of redeeming of that character that has occurred, the presentation of the “inuk chuk” speaking man (which is not an Apache phrase probably) could be seen as stereotypically, and probably racist in this day and age. Comics, and so many other forms of media, have a tendency to do this where they take the only aspect of a culture that they know and create whole characters that are less than human. Sometimes over time, creators redeem those characters and make them symbols of resistance and subversion, which is great, because it takes the power of creation out of the hands of white man. Name 5 prominent black characters in comics and I can guarantee you at least two or three have “Black” in their name. It has just been the nature of the game.
Which is why it seems weird that this episode has four Native American characters, Tye, his mother Shelly who it is implied is being physically abused by her boyfriend Maurice, who it is also, heavily, implied hits Tye. This is furthered by how quick he is ready to fight Jaime. We also have typical old man, mystic character Holling Longshadow who talks about vision quests and Jaime’s inner demons, aka, the scarab. Shelly is voiced by Irene Bedard, who you would recognize as the voice of Pocahontas, Maurice by Robert Beltran, Chakotay on Star Trek: Voyager who one could argue is another Native America stereotype, and Holling by Michael Horse. Why does Maurice have to be an abusive boyfriend/person? Why does Holling have to be a wise old mystic?
Continued belowWhat I’m saying, is that this episode perpetuates stereotypes in a way that seems ill researched, but has voice actors that are Native American, and Beltran who’s Mexican American, but also may have mestizo heritage, to make it seem like it’s probably ok. And if this show was going to engage with abuse or the lives of Native American persons in a positive way, it might not have included them. You could have had Blue Beetle’s story without him fighting Maurice. This is especially ill-considered alongside the exploration of Babs above and the idea that having a team of women, and having one of them make a self-aware feminist crack, means you’re being a feminist and so should excuse the other problematic parts of the episode. That’s not what that means. And it doesn’t. It’s very often in geek culture that male creators and writers include women and say “Well shit that’s what feminism is,” and I think I would beg to disagree. It’s about more than just including a group of women together, although that is where it starts. It’s about being authentic to women, their lived experience, and to have them be real characters, women, people. The same with Native American persons. The same with all persons. I know this was six years ago, but we can do better. We should do better.
4. Jaime vs. Piracy
For these last two points I will evaluate the dual plots as a whole now that I’m off my long, what I guess people might call SJW, rant. Jaime trying to find Tye is interesting and seeing him argue with the scarab more is a delight. Although it seems interesting to continue to focus on Jaime when there are more new members of the Team that need exploration. This is four of the last five that he’s been featured very prominently. Which I guess means he’s got a lot more important plot stuff coming.
Nonetheless, I said most of what I wanted to say about this plotline above. Jaime tries to find Tye, gets into a fight with his mother’s boyfriend Maurice, and ends up exposing his pirated DVD business. Tye gets shipped off to The Light’s new “partner” and we kick the can down the road a little more. I think this part of the episode is interesting, moving the plot of the season along, but ultimate has more faults than pros and could’ve used some retooling.
5. Alpha Team for the win
Now the Bialya plot I really enjoyed, even though, as I said above, it’s suspect to have faux feminism next to obvious stereotypes.
Cass, Babs, and Karen all get great highlights here as Wonder Girl shows she can do more than just punch people, Batgirl shows off she’s stealthy and brilliant, and Bumblebee proves her worth, showcasing tact, wit, strategy and stealth. Also you are definitely afraid Miss M is going to lobotomize Psimon again and go full scary morally ambiguous. We get a little more insight into what The Light might be up to from Queen Bee, as well as a look at some of the minor villains of season one in Icicle, Jr., Mammoth and Shimmer. It would have been a great episode if this had taken up most of the plot, but splitting it with Blue Beetle’s investigation undercut it in some ways. It would have been great watching Alpha Team go stealth mode 20 minutes, but they split camera time. Still, all the women get great character moments and they all more than justify their place on the Team. Go Alpha!
That’s it for this week. Please do sound off in the comments below, and come back next week where…oh shit this is that episode!!! Impulse arrives!!!
