Young Justice: Outsiders Episodes 4-8

TV Reviews | Feb 18th, 2019

Image used with permission for review purposes.

Starring: Jesse McCartney, Nolan North, Danica McKellar, Khary Payton, Stephanie Lemelin, Jason Spisak, Bruce Greenwood, Crispin Freeman
Created By: Tony S. Daniel, Geoff Johns, Marv Wolfman
Studio: DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation

Episode 4: Private Security

“Private Security” takes place after the action in this seasons’ first story arc. With Nightwing and company trying to figure out what to do with their new recruits, Dick seeks out help with a trafficking ring in Central City by asking a group of friends/brothers/clones.

Dick asks Will Harper (the original Roy Harper clone from season 1), who now owns Bowhunter Security. With Dick are the original Roy Harper/Arsenal and Jim Harper, another Roy Harper clone who goes by Guardian now. Will makes him an ultimatum, help him with a job during the day and he’ll help Dick out in the evening. Dick reluctantly agrees and they head out in Will’s sweet Bowhunter Security SUV. Apparently every other staff member of Bowhunter Security got food poisoning after celebrating the company’s softball win the night before.

While guarding a supply of the latest VR video gaming tech, Will and crew discover that they are being played as the truck drivers aren’t who they appear to be. They are members of the crime lord Brick’s crew and are off to sell all of the merch on the black market. The superhero dayshift crew of Bowhunter Security jump into action in order to protect their client’s assets.

Meanwhile, Superboy is trying to help Prince Brion through his transition to metahuman and after being cast out of his home country. Miss Martian and Superboy agree that Brion reminds them both of Superboy in his early days with the team. They agree to do what they can to help him with this transition.

The young girl, now dubbed Halo has been staying with Will and Tigress and goes along with Tigress to help out an old friend. Meeting in the park, Tigress and Halo join up with Dr. Fate. Tigress askes Fate to see what he knows about Halo and her past and he informs them that she has an old soul in her young body. Soon after Zatanna appears and meets with Dr. Fate. Since Zatanna is a magic user of good nature and her father Zatara is the new Dr. Fate, the magic forces behind Fate have agreed to let her visit with her father for one hour once every year. Not understanding the situation Halo sits with Tigress until their meeting is up. Saddened once again that her father is gone for another year, Tigress comforts a downtrodden Zatanna. Halo realizes the situation and the concept of being there for friends.

In Metropolis, Jefferson Pierce AKA Black Lighting is keeping Dr. Jace company with some good old fashioned genetically engineered hot dogs. The two seem to make a connection and may have more screen time together in the future.

On the west coast, Bowhunter Security have fought off Brick and saved their client’s merchandise. Still reeling from the loss of Wally West, Will believes that Dick has been seeking out Wally replacements in the Harper clan. Will also realizes that Dick is trying to avoid the responsibilities of his team and the weight of leadership. Dick reluctantly agrees with him and decides that he will go back to his team and do what’s right. The episode ends with them victorious upon a rooftop in Central City as victims of the trafficking ring escape.

Episode Thoughts: While this episode can be considered a “filler” episode, it really isn’t and is one of the best episodes so far. There is a lot of character development, something that “Young Justice” has always done well. While it was quite funny and a break from the average superhero stuff, it was also a tribute to Wally West, who gave his life to save the team in season 2. The Harper clones worked well together and it was interesting to see the various paths that basically the same person has chosen for himself.

I’ve also enjoyed the little reoccurring vignettes that each episode has had during end credits. Each time there is some random animal or vehicle sleeping as mellow instrumental music plays in the background. The one at the first episode was simply Artemis’s dog sleeping under a table with a Kid Flash doll wedged between its paws.

Overall Rating:

Episode 5: Away Mission

In episode 5 we’re taken to New Genesis, home of the New Gods, as Orion is making a deal with a group of insectoid creatures known as the Hive. As the exchange takes place, Orion reneges on his part of the bargain and shorts the insectoids their fair share of the exchanged goods. One of the insectoids named Forager has heard of the brave exploits of noble Orion before and believes that something isn’t as it seems.

We are then taken to the Earth home of Conner Kent AKA Superboy as a visitor from New Genesis and friend of Superboy’s named Bear comes seeking the help of Conner and friends. Superboy cannot leave the farm in Happy Harbor since he has promised to look after and train Brion and Halo. Miss Martian sends out a summons and an away team is formed to investigate Orion’s actions on New Genesis.

With the help of the team, Miss Martian discovers that it is not actually the real Orion but her White Martian brother posing as him in order to gain help in his revolutionary war against the Green Martians. He has been pitting the Hive against the New Gods in hopes that they will rise up and defeat their oppressors while also fulfilling a promise to an unknown assailant. Trying to settle things peacefully, Miss Martian pleads with her brother to no avail and her brother’s servants…two Earth meta kids…attack the Young Justice team. Soundly defeated, Miss Martian’s brother escapes his sister but not before killing his unwilling servants upon his escape.

Back on Earth, Conner and company try helping Brion to control his powers but he cannot and becomes frustrated. Halo tries comforting him and tells him that he appears broken. Halo learns a new power and a different colored aura but accidently hurts herself while doing so. The two new metahumans have a long way to go with their powers and Brion, who has become increasingly more angry and frustrated, decides that he should leave. Knowing how he feels, Superboy tells him that he needs a purpose and a clear goal to focus on and promises to help Brion find his missing sister.

Episode Thoughts: This episode was decent enough with the team back on New Genesis and the plot with Orion but it didn’t really leave much open to the imagination as it was fairly obvious from the get-go that that was not the real Orion. As for the new possible members of the team, so far I’m not impressed and have been more irritated with their plotlines than interested but time will tell, I suppose.

Overall Rating:

Episode 6: Rescue Op

Episode 6 titled “Rescue Op” focuses on the newly formed team/hive of Brion, Halo and Forager as they learn that Brion’s sister may still be alive and in league with the League of Shadows.

As the group learns more information regarding the possibility of sightings of someone with the power description of Brion’s sister, Brion, Halo and Forager decide to take matters into their own hands and disobey the orders of Nightwing and Superboy and seek out this person. The headquarters of the League of Shadows is Infinity Island and head of the League is one of the most dangerous men on the planet…Ra’s al Ghul.

With this information in tow, the newbies think that they can just waltz right onto Infinity Island and demand to speak to Brion’s sister. That plan doesn’t quite work out so well for them as Ra’s al Ghul’s lackeys take down the C team with ease, killing Halo in the process. The rest of the group are chained up and thrown in the dungeon. Halo’s powers bring her back from death once again, with Ra’s looking on in surprise.

With Nightwing, Superboy and crew arriving to free them, they face off against Ra’s al Ghul himself as he decides to clear the air and informs the group that he no longer leads the League of Shadows but will not tell them who currently does. He directs the group to then leave Infinity Island immediately.

Episode Thoughts: The story of angry Brion and his lost sister once again fails to interest me. Instead of doing the rational thing and listen to reason, Brion takes a group of metahumans into a hostile locale and ends up getting one of them killed…although she can resurrect herself at will. With the main focus of “Rescue Op” focusing on that storyline, it has been my least favorite episode so far. I do like the hodgepodge team of Superboy, Nightwing, Black Lightning and Miss Martian though.

Overall Rating:

Episode 7: Evolution

“Evolution” gets things back on track with an excellent episode focusing on the immortal Vandal Savage. With the Justice League in shambles due to the United Nations sanctions put upon them, it’s up to Vandal Savage to save the Earth from impending doom.

Receiving an alert of a massive armada in space which is heading straight for Earth, Vandal Savage contacts Lex Luthor to find out who can help defeat the armada. With the Justice League unavailable, the Green Lantern Corps fighting off the Reach in outer space and no other apparent heroes on Earth who could handle the situation, Vandal Savage takes matters into his own hands and sets out to face the armada in Warworld…a massive planet-sized weapon ala the Death Star.

To Vandals chagrin, Warworld seems to have little effect on the ships in the armada and he also notices that there are two fleets now flanking the Earth. In order to protect their interests on Earth such as the meta experiments, Vandal reaches out to he and Luthor’s other partner…none other than Darkseid, ruler of Apokalips. Darkseid agrees to send his ships to aid Savage in his fight.

While all of this is going on in outer space, the story bounces back and forth to Savage’s origin story as well as his time known as Genghis Khan and other fearsome rulers in history. We also get a glimpse of Savage’s first encounter and alliance with Darkseid in the 13th century.

With Darkseid’s forces, led by Kalibak, holding off the armada for the time being, Savage catches a glimpse of what is controlling the enemy forces…none other than the space creature known as Starro. Savage teleports to the ship containing the dominant Starro and single-handedly takes the creature out. We also get a glimpse into the past where Savage has faced off against the Starros before.

Having saved the Earth as well as he and his groups investments there, Savage turns to one of his daughters who has been reveling in the story of Savage’s past. With a cold heart and an ominous silence he snaps her neck as he reveals that his past is not to be written in record since he has much more to accomplish and his plans cannot be revealed if the truth of his existence were known to all. Then he says any daughter of Savage’s shall have a funeral befitting a god.

There are some moments focusing on the newly formed team/hive as they train with the others, receive costumes as well as their codenames…which two of them already had in Halo and Forager. Brion takes on the mantle of Geo-Force with a look somewhat similar to his character in the comics. If they stay true to the comics, Teen Titans fans will be quite familiar with the identity of his sister.

Episode Thoughts: “Evolution” is definitely my favorite episode of the season so far as it focused on the villains of the show and how their alliance is just as important to the story as the Justice League’s or Young Justice’s. It was great getting a peak into Vandal Savage’s past and I found it quite humorous how Savage took it upon himself to be the Earth’s savior with no glory or fame to be had. He matter-of-factly protected his investments.

Overall Rating:

Episode 8: Triptych

The eighth episode of season 3 is somewhat of a piecemeal anthology episode but it also provides the viewer with a big reveal that “Young Justice” fans know and love.

Bouncing back and forth between various teams of Young Justice and Justice League heroes, “Triptych” follows the words meaning as it focuses on three major events that give insight into the metahuman trafficking from this season of the show. It is also written by legendary comic scribe Peter David.

A team lead by Robin goes against Mad Hatter and Clayface, Flash, Aqualad and Shazam encounter Sportsmaster as he tries to free Brick and Shade from a prison transport and Nightwing’s team seeks intel on the League of Shadows from Cheshire, Shade, Livewire and Mist.

At the end of the episode it is revealed that members of the Justice League are secretly working together to coordinate six separate teams that don’t know the bigger picture. It would seem that the breakup of the Justice League was a ruse in order to protect other members of the team as well as the Young Justice kids from knowingly breaking the law and working against the United Nations sanctions put upon the JL. The episode ends with Wonder Woman posing a question of lying on oath that many members pause and hesitantly think upon.

Episode Thoughts: While confusing at first as times and plots were bouncing around all over the place, things came together at the end to reveal that the Justice League’s breakup and Batman’s split from the team was premeditated in order to protect the others from the possibility of perjury in court. There will surely be repercussions from many members of the team if and when they discover this plan. With people like Superman and the Flash out of the loop, there may be some fences that may need to be mended by the end of the season but I’m sure that a good old-fashioned donnybrook against Darkseid, Vandal Savage and Lex Luthor will cure what ails them.

Overall Rating:

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