Today is the day! Almost six full years in the making, the first episode of Young Justice: Outsiders has premiered on the DC Universe streaming service along with the next two episodes. DC Universe will be releasing episodes of this show in blocks like this throughout the month of January, with four episodes closing out the midseason on January 25th. We’ll be covering each episode individually, and you can look for reviews of the next two episodes from me in the coming days.
But with that out the way, were the six years worth it? Right off the bat, for me, the answer is a resounding yes. I’ve spent the last two summers watching and writing about Young Justice as part of our Summer TV Binge and drooling all over this show. The first two seasons gave us a fully realized DCU with a ton of characters from all the various aspects of the universe and showcased a ton of character development, surprises, and fun. This first episode is no different. Picking up two years after the events of season two, we are dropped into a metahuman resource war with so many unexpected changes and revelations. This episode is packed to the brim. I’ll be discussing spoilers, so if you haven’t watched the episode yet I suggest doing so. But today’s the day folks, so let’s dive in!
1. Bigger, Badder, Bolder
In interviews the creators of the show, Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman, have been discussing some of the different things that they can do with Outsiders since its on DC Universe and not on Cartoon Network anymore. They discussed that tonally they can go darker and show more mature content than they could when this ran on Saturday mornings. With that, there’s an air of darkness over this first episode that wasn’t there as much in the prior seasons. Watching Outsiders is like watching DC’s current output of animated movies in many ways. And unlike when I was reviewing Titans the last few weeks, the darkness here is not a bad thing and doesn’t get in the way of the content. The stakes are higher here. Season one was about the Team rising to the level of the League, and earning their respect. Season two asked the question, “What happens when this thing gets bigger?” and saw friction and trust issues between the League, the Team, and the rest of the Earth and universe. This season is amping up to tear everything the League and Team have built apart.
Already in the first few minutes of the episode we get a little girl being tortured to activate her metagene. She’s then coerced and shipped off to Rann to war with Darkseid’s Parademons against the Rannians and the non-Earth unit of the Justice League. Black Lightning ends up giving her the blow that stops her heart and he resigns from the League for it. Couple that with Earth and the rest of the universe warring over Earth’s metahumans and conscripting them to fight, along with a Justice League crippled by a Luthor-led United Nations, and Markovian assassinations and martial law, things are heavy and tense. That’s not even all that happens in this episode either.
The thing that doesn’t bother me as much about the deaths, murder, and blood in this episode is that it seems like an escalation of the 7 year chronology of this show. Things have gotten worse over time and there’s an intergalactic war coming. That’s going to be big. This episode never revels in that darkness though. There are more lighter moment mixed with characters with good intentions and strong moral compasses grappling with the ensuing conflicts. This feels like superheroes. It works.
2. “Business as usual:” Beginning at the end
Alright with that overarching thought out of the way let’s get down to business. Have I mentioned I love the intro for the DCEU movies and DC Universe shows? I do. The music here is much better than whatever grunge music was playing in Titans. It’s a fun intro to rival Marvel’s now iconic pre-movie/television logo.
We start with the end of season 2. Kaldur takes over the Team, Dick leaves, Wally’s dead, the League got a not guilty verdict. All isn’t well, but it’s calm. This episode gives you all the information and primer you need to know to grasp the relevant bits and carry over to this season. Minus that Darkseid is. But if you forgot that cliffhanger I don’t know how to help you. It’s a great transition, all tied in a bow by the fact that it happens on July 4th, Independence Day, a callback to how season one began and ended and how this show has been marking years. I’ve watched these episodes semi-recently and was afraid I might be lost in the transition, but you get the bits you need. You then get thrown into the action as on that same July 4th we learn about the metagene tests and torture. This leads into the weaponization of metahumans two years later. Then things go way south.
Continued below3. Let me count the ways
There is SOOOOOOOO much cool shit in this episode. Let me list what may be a fraction of it:
– Miss Martian is rocking a White Martian look as Team leader, which is a surprise because she wasn’t featured in any of the trailers.
– Kaldur is co-leader of the Justice League (now as Aquaman), with Wonder Woman being the other co-leader. Kaldur heads the Earth branch of the League with people like Batman, Green Arrow, and Black Canary, while WW is in space with Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern.
– In the last two years Ice, Batwoman, Katana, Hardware and others have joined the League.
– Batman and Ollie resign from the League, along with Batwoman, Plastic Man, Katana, and Hardware. Spoiler, Robin (Tim Drake), and Arrowette all simultaneously leave the Team in solidarity. Black Lightning resigns as well over guilt, and calls Bruce’s new not-UN-sanctioned team he’s starting Batman Incorporated.
– Artemis and Roy (now going by Will Harper) are living together and raising Roy and Cheshire’s kid.
– Miss M and Superboy get engaged.
– Dick and Babs (as Oracle) are running their own operation, and he recruits Artemis, Superboy, and Black Lightning to head off to Markovia. They will end up (I’m guessing) forming the Outsiders. I haven’t watched past the first episode at the time of writing this, but that will mean there are four separate superhero groups in operation (five if you count the two Justice Leagues as separate).
All of that should be enough to excite any DC fan. This episode is stuffed to the brim. With that though there are so many characters that don’t speak or barely speak. The members of the Team suffer the worst. This may rectify itself, and with a 26 episode season surely everyone will have some moments to shine. I also recognize that the average viewer will likely binge the show every week in the three episode chunks they’re released in, which may help some of these problems. At the moment though there is SO much to be excited about, which what first episodes are for. Hopefully now we can dig in.
4. Markovian and universal politics
This episode is divided, sort of, into three different plots. Or at least three casts of characters. There’s the stuff happening with Black Lightning and the League/Team, there’s Dick’s recruitment drive, and then there’s everything happening in Markovia. This is the only part of the episode that feels more slowly paced, mostly because we’re being introduced to an entire new cast of characters, royal family and country. It’s important though because it introduces us to one of the main places where metahuman testing and weaponizing is happening. It also puts Prince Brion Markov at the fore, an original Outsiders member, and the man destined to become the hero Geo-Force (which marketing has already spoiled for you). We get an entire coup, assassination, and political turmoil which lays more of the groundwork for what’s likely to come in the next few episodes as Dick’s squad infiltrates the country. It’s definitely the section of the episode that falls flattest, but that’s likely because it is the least connected to everything that came before. I got super excited about the League drama and about Dick out of costume, but with the Markovia stuff I just went “eh.” I think as we move forward it’ll be stronger, and also be where much of the action happens, but here with the plethora of of fun that is falling back in love with these characters it’s a sore thumb. It’ll be interesting to look back at how they release this season and see if the chunks tell more full stories or are better “episodes” than the individual episodes.
5. Dick’s squad’s a go
So like all the advertising and trailers informed you, Dick is assembling a team. In this episode he gets the newly engaged Superboy, the depressed Tigress, and the guilt-stricken (and semi-powerless) Black Lightning together to infiltrated Markovia. It’s interesting that Dick is getting his own Outsiders team, separate from whatever Bruce and Ollie are doing, and I imagine conflict with these covert squads will ensue. It’s exciting to see Dick leading out of costume, but also just generally being more happy than he was all of season 2. There’s less lying and subterfuge and more “What makes the best sense?” going on here. It’s also good to get the original team back together, give or take Kaldur and Wally and M’gann, though at least she gives them her blessing. I liked the expanded focus last season, and thought Dick, Kaldur and M’gann got the most work done with them. Blue Beetle was the main focus character of the newbies, and also probably had the most solo time of any character. Here it seems Connor, Artemis and Jefferson Pierce will get the spotlight time this season, with Dick still staying front and center. Just makes me think the Team is going to suffer, which would be weird since they are (or were) the foundation of the show. But this is only episode 1, and I have no idea. I’m excited to see where we’re headed.
That’s a lot of thoughts for the first 20 minutes of Outsiders. Sound off in the comments below, and we’ll be back Tuesday with thoughts on episode two.
