And we’re back for the fourth week of our 2018 Summer TV Binge. We learned this week that the DC Universe streaming service is launching in August! Which means that we’ll be in the middle of our coverage on season 2 of Young Justice potentially when season 3 begins. Though it is possible that the releases will be staggered? Who knows, but keep checking Multiversity for more info!
This week we get a transition episode. After three episodes of space things, we check in on some of the mysteries of the five year gap and set up some new things for the season to come. Let’s dive in!
1. Roy’s back and…better?
We start the episode with Roy Harper, Red Arrow, helping to stop a store robbery and pocketing some cash for himself. Roy then gets caught on a rooftop by Green Arrow, Black Canary, Nightwing, Wally West, and Jim Harper, the former Guardian who worked at Cadmus. Roy spends most of the episode pulling the same kind of crap he did last season, only instead of being petty and arrogant, he’s self-righteous and playing the “Woe is me!” game. If you remember, this Roy Harper was the mole that The Light planted within the League to mind control them, which means the real Roy Harper, the original Speedy, could potentially still be alive somewhere, and in fact is since we saw a cryotube with his body in the season one finale.
The group gathered tries to make Roy listen to reason. Black Canary kicks his ass. Ollie offers to take him under his wing again. Jim Harper, who was also a Cadmus clone, tells him he gets that it will take him awhile to figure out how to be Roy since he’s a clone. (Side note: the original Guardian, created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1942, was Jim Harper, so has anyone ever made the last name connection between him and Roy or is this a first? If you find out sound off in the comments below!) Dick and Wally even tell Roy they did the math and the only version of Roy Harper they’ve ever know is him, not the original Roy. But still, over and over again, Roy chastises the group for having given up looking for the original Speedy. Maybe this deadbeat, obsessive version of Roy is similar to the drug-addled Roy of the comics? Maybe he’s smoking crack and that’s why he actually needs the money. Who knows!
Anyway, I can get he’s traumatized and betrayed, feels survivor’s guilt, etc, but he’s still not a likable character. Roy, you haven’t changed, you just traded pretension for self-pity.
2. History lesson
The other major plot thread in the episode is Superboy and Blue Beetle taking on Bruno Mannheim and Whisper A’Daire of Intergang as they resurrect the husk of the Appellaxians that were in the Hall of Justice using Apokaliptan tech. What a great DCU sentence that is There’s some great history bombs that get dropped here in this sequence. First, someone finally asks Blue Beetle why he always yells at himself and we learn more about the scarab, which we as the audience finally here speak in this episode. Jaime explains to Superboy that the scarab is an artificial intelligence created by Ted Kord (hmmm), the former Blue Beetle, before he was killed by The Light. This brings the five year body count up to two with Tula and Ted both dead (and probably Jason Todd as well since Tim Drake is running around as Robin).
Secondly, Superboy educates Blue Beetle on the Appellaxians after he screws up using a sonic attack on them, telling him they were the League’s first trophies, and the beings that brought them together “12 years ago.” This also checks out with Silver Age comic book history, as the Appallaxians first appeared in “Justice League of America” #9 by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky in a flashback story where the founding members of the League tell Snapper Carr and Green Arrow the story of how they came together. All this means is that we have a bit of a longer timeline on this Earth than the current DCU using The New 52 timeline. This means that the Team was formed during “Year 7” of the League being active. Clearly quite a lot has happened in 12 years. These are both fun comics callbacks, and continue to build this world more and more.
Continued below3. “All this life is pain.”
Ditto Appallaxian Golem, ditto.
4. “Happy Valentine’s Day Artemis”
Finally we see Wally in an episode, and not only do we see him, but we see him and Artemis still dating and living together in Palo Alto. Both of them seem so much more grown up and mature, but very much still them. I love all of this. It’s nice that the show didn’t ruin all the romantic relationships with the time jump, just the one you weren’t expecting. I love Wally and Artemis together, and they seem to have a whole life together outside of heroing, in college, and completely extricated from the costumed, crime fighting milieu. Seeing them living together, could be a little risque for a “kid’s show,” but seems in line with Wally as a character, having been married with kids and definitely a settling down type. Both of them have a lot of feelings and sadness over Roy it seems, but I love that they’ve built this life for themselves. Something tells me this won’t be the last we see of them though for sure.
5. “I have a daughter”
We end the episode with Roy in a run down apartment as Cheshire comes to complete his intervention. We learn in the five years the two of them got married, but became estranged as Roy was obsessed with finding the original Speedy. All of this makes the whole them having a kid thing and Roy not knowing way more palatable (cause they probably couldn’t have gotten away with them getting pregnant and not being married, this is a “kid’s show.”) Lian Harper, another callback to the daughter Roy and Cheshire have in the comics that was erased by The New 52. They were never married there though I believe.
Anyway, Cheshire has called in all her favors, and found a lead for the original Roy, and they’re off again. This is just another great moment of the show using comic continuity to its advantage, tweaking it a bit, and making something cool and fun (and giving Roy something to do).
That’s all for this week folks. Sound off in the comments below and come back next week!
