The mole is revealed and it was a shock to everyone, most of all to the mole himself. Red Arrow looked like he woke from a bad dream and asks if he was the mole, as Vandal Savage confirms while stepping aboard The Watchtower. All of Savage’s plans, all the false victories he let the team have, led up to this point: The Justice League are now (unwilling) agents of The Light. What they will do with them is as yet unclear, but what is crystal clear is that they will not allow the team to run free, especially after what happened in Santa Prisca the day before. The first and final battle is coming; the team must prevail because being destroyed or becoming mind slaves just doesn’t sound like something our heroes would be “whelmed” about.
SAVAGE JUSTICE Red Arrow, freed from his brainwashing, is not the only remaining member of the Justice League and he is on the run from his former teammates.Flash, Aquaman and Green Arrow chase him through the subway tunnels of Washington D.C. and would have caught him had an oncoming train not allowed him to escape. As the team return to the cave after their last victory, Batman and Red Tornado wait for them to tell them that Red Arrow is the mole and that he is really a Cadmus clone of Roy Harper. Thanks to Red Tornado’s (literally) quick thinking, the team escapes control of The Light and after they find Red Arrow it is time for the final showdown. Former sidekicks versus their mentors; Young Justice versus the Justice League and members of The Light. Against these overwhelming odds, it’s a good thing that Batman taught them to be a covert ops team.
BESTING YOUR BETTERS Just a quick count here. The team consists of Aqualad, Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy, Wolf, The Super Cycle, Zatanna, Rocket, Artemis and Miss Martian. Red Arrow temporarily rejoins out of necessity and the developed cure adds Red Tornado and Black Canary. The Justice League is Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart, Hawkman, Green Arrow, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, Plastic Man, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, The Atom, Icon and Doctor Fate. Vandal Savage, Klarion and Teekl are also aboard, controlling the Justice League. Thirteen against twenty equals a near suicide mission when you factor in The main JL trio, the hawks and Aquaman. Fortunately, missions in Santa Prisca and Bialya, along with training and facing off several times against Cheshire have made the team adept at both covert and guerrilla tactics. Our young heroes do not fight fair; they fight to win, which became very apparent when they used their three JL members as pawns to distract Vandal Savage. Their biggest advantage was noted by Wally though. They were a team, working together against one individual that was controlling twenty people. Had they actually been fighting cognizant members of the Justice League, things might not have ended so well.
THE LIGHT STILL SHINES Last episode of the season and we see some of what The Light was up to. However, according to Vandal Savage, this was only phase one of the plan. We still do not know his ultimate goal other than a desire to weed out the weak elements of humanity and “evolve” the species. Savage and the Witch Boy make their escape as the last of the controlled Leaguers fall, leaving us to still wonder what their plans are. One thing is certain and that is if phase one was this big, phase two may be too much for any group of heroes to handle.
ABOUT DAMN TIME Throughout this season, there are things that fans have wanted to see. We all wanted to know who the mole was and that was some spectacular storytelling when we found out. We all wanted Artemis and M’gann to stop keeping secrets. I personally wanted a Superboy who was not so much of a dick. Above all, I think that we were all tired of seeing Kid Flash and Artemis pussyfooting around their feelings for one another. Amnesia or not, the seed of them being together was planted sixteen episodes ago. Now that it has happened, let’s hope they last together for more than that length.
As season one of Young Justice comes to a close, we look forward to the impending Invasion, aka season two of the show. We know that more young heroes will appear, more enemies and we can only hope that The Light’s plans will be discovered and stopped. There will obviously be changes in the team as well. We have seen that Superboy and Miss Martian were a couple for roughly the second half of the season. Will they remain as such going forward? One of the reasons I pose that question is that Wonder Girl is confirmed to be in the next season and in the comics, Wonder Girl was Superboy’s girlfriend. Will Artemis and Wally stay together and will Wally stay on the team? The trailer for YJ Invasion shows no new footage of either character and in his original backstory, Wally develops a disease where the use of his powers is killing him. He quit being a hero for years because of that. I doubt that Robin and Zatanna will become a permanent item, but I also never would have guessed at them being a temporary one. Rocket and Aqualad is highly unlikely considering he still has feelings for Tula. The big question however, deals with the sixteen hours of time where John Stewart, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl were missing. They returned to Watchtower via boom tube, so they literally could have been anywhere doing any number of things. Seeing that addressed and how that affects the story will also be an interesting aspect of the next season. I for one, cannot wait to find out the answers.
BEST LINE ALL SEASON Red Tornado remarks that “human customs still elude him.” He was probably thinking to himself, “You teenaged assholes. I lay on the floor in pieces and you stand around me, making out. Ungrateful bastards, the lot of you.”
Slick’s Nit-Picks: Young Justice, Episode 120 – “Coldhearted”
Slick’s Nit-Picks: Young Justice, Episode 121 – “Image”
