The growing pains continue for the Young Justice team, just when it was thought they were behind them. The heroes continue to have to deal with things not going as they have planned as they get their sixth member and it is not who they expect. From the start, the team expected they would have an archer but they thought it would be Speedy, who now goes by the name Red Arrow. To their surprise, Batman and Green Arrow present them with Artemis, who they falsely present as Green Arrow’s niece. Now the team faces teamwork and trust building all over again; the question is whether they will succeed a second time.
The team is given a mission with two intertwined objectives. They must protect Dr. Serling Roquette, who was originally saved by Red Arrow from the League of Shadows. She had created a swarm of information stealing nanobots called “The Fog” for the League of Shadows under the threat of death. Our heroes have to protect her from the league long enough for her to finish and implement her anti-fog virus. Aqualad decides that due to the sensitivity of the mission and the fact that they are dealing with a new member that communication should be through Miss Martian’s telepathy. This is initially unnerving to Artemis and leads to some funny banter from her and from Kid Flash.
To stop the fog, they had to have the doctor locate where it was active and the moment she logged on the net to find out, they knew that the League of Shadows would be on her. Robin and Superboy are sent to stop the fog and the rest of the team has to stop the assassins sent after her, led by Cheshire. When the smoke clears, Artemis has Cheshire cold, but Cheshire threatens to reveal what she knows if she is taken in so Artemis lowers her bow. She tells the team that Cheshire escaped. Later, Red Arrow confronts her in an alley warning her that she had better not hurt his friends. Sensei, the leader of the League of Shadows, smiles during his conversation with the Light, as they now have an insider amongst this team of teen upstarts that has been causing them trouble.
This episode had some definite high points and a few low ones for me. It was good to see the team having some fun, especially Superboy, who is generally a stick in the mud character. The responsibility of everyday life was reinforced as Wally was the only one not at the beach since school had started back up for him. It was probably a good thing he did not see Megan in a bikini as an animated version of “Jizz In My Pants” is not safe for a 7PM time slot on Cartoon Network. It was also interesting to see him not go gaga over Artemis; it shows he has at least a piece of brain in his head. It was disappointing to see Superboy still approaching battles in the brutish way of past episodes after his apparent growth in “Schooled.” The biggest problem I had with the episode though was the introduction of new characters. Cheshire I had a couple of problems with. First was her mask; it is not the first time that DC animation has shown this mask, but the real Cheshire wears no mask. Then there was the supposed connection to Artemis, when her real story ties her to Red Arrow. Now for our new hero, Artemis, who if you have been reading my previous episode recaps, you will notice that I have been calling her Arrowette. I mean, after all, it’s her real hero name. Artemis is an Amazon; she was even Wonder Woman for a while instead of Diana. I understand why they chose the name since Arrowette is a really dumb name to me and the name Artemis fits better (goddess of the hunt). I am going to have to let my purist “ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude go a lot with this show I see. After all, if you wanna be technical, Miss Martian, Aqualad, Kid Flash and Dick Grayson and Red Arrow shouldn’t even be in this show. See ya next week people.
