Welcome back to our Summer TV Binge of Young Justice‘s second season as the action ramps up and part of the team heads to space for the first time in the series. Let’s dive in!
1. Part 2
If episode one is alien invasion Earth style, this is the direct follow-up, and in fact almost a part two to the previous episode. So much of what happens here is set up from the first episode, and much of this episode runs concurrent with what happened previously, including the fleeing Kroloteans from New Orleans that Robin, Blue Beetle, and Lagoon Boy took out. It makes sense that the first two episodes would be so closely related, but it’s interesting that originally they didn’t air as a two-parter like the season one premiere. It makes for an interesting viewing experience realizing the time overlap as the show starts to answer many of the questions that carried over from last season and that are set up by the beginning of the Krolotean invasion. All in all, I think you could have combined this episode with the last one.
2. Welcome to Rann
I will admit that my DC cosmic lore is very much lacking, and while I have heard of Rann and know it holds significance, I couldn’t tell you much more than that. Same with characters with Adam Strange and Alanna who I know are DCU fan-favorites and have been around since the Silver Age. Is it just me or are both Marvel and DC, currently, doing a disservice to some of their cosmic properties? There are whole worlds to explore!
It is great however to see them show up here and to see the show expand into this category of the DCU. After last’s years forays into magic, villainy and the Milestone character additions, this seemed a next logical step. It was also done in a fairly seamless way where if you aren’t familiar with this character or world you can definitely catch everything that’s going on. To reiterate again, this show knows how to introduce things intelligently and without over-explaining and not holding your hand and I love it.
3. Garfield Logan
I had totally forgotten that we had already seen Beast Boy last season in that episode where the team is dispatched to Qurac and meet Megann’s television actress she modeled her look after. It struck me for a second when he started calling Miss M sis that they already knew each other, and then as the episode I remembered that she gave him a blood transfusion in that episode and now he’s green with shapeshifting powers. There’s a moment in the episode where Beast Boy has a breakdown in front of a waterfall as he remembers an accident that Queen Bee orchestrated that killed his mom that both him and Miss M feel responsible for. This is true to the BB of the comics who’s parents also died in a freak accident. Tying his origin’s to Miss M also really works here and doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch either in my eyes and is a great way to funnel in a new character. Hopefully the Queen Bee connection comes up again later in the season, as she is a member of the Light. Either way, with Wally currently absent, Beast Boy is an appropriate fill-in for the souvenir loving goofball of the show.
4. Full-on lobotomy
Superboy gets into why him and Miss Martian broke up a little bit in this episode hiding with Alanna, and we realize that he broke it off with her saying, “She left me no choice.” Clearly there are still feelings between the two, but M’gann has seemed cold and way more grown up in these past few episodes, way more so than she was last season. No more jokes or the sort of lackadaisical attitude she previously had, but instead we have a very serious, mission-oriented Miss M. This is further exacerbated by her literally lobotomizing a Krolotean at the end of the episode! I would say this is out of character, but she basically did the same thing to Psimon last season. This however is way more controlled and premeditated than that. Will this darker M’gann continue? Is that why her and Superboy called it quits?
Continued below5. What happened on Rimbor?
Going forward, this missing 16 hours schitck is going to be the guiding plot point of the show, and we get a little more context here for what the missing six members of the League did five years ago and are wanted for now. On Rann Adam Strange, Sardath, and Alanna inform the Team that the League is wanted for an attack on Rimbor, a minor planet in the DCU known as the home of Ultra Boy, a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th century. Thanks Wikipedia. What could the League have possibly done? Why do the Kroloteans have it out for them? Is The Light still playing the long game? And what happens now that Miss Martian knows what happened? All this and more next week!
All in all, a solid episode with some extraneous action bits, but a streamlined plot as this season continues down the “Invasion” route. Thoughts on the episode? Sound off in the comments below, and come back next week for more alien action!
