Almost four months have passed since we last saw any new Young Justice action (thanks for that, Cartoon Network) and the news that new episodes are back was like Christmas morning. The excitement was even greater when you look at where the show left off. Here are a few major points of interest:
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Aqualad “killed” Artemis and now she has joined his crew with a new face
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Lagoon Boy is a prisoner of Black Manta and is to be delivered to the Partner
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Cheshire and Red Arrow found and liberated the original Roy Harper
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Miss Martian’s abuse of her powers cost her Superboy
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Impulse is on a secret mission to save the future
And that is literally scratching the surface of what is going on. Things are really getting bad for the team and morale is at an all-time low due to the believed murder of Artemis. Sadly, they are going to have to suck it up, because things are certainly going to get worse before they even begin to get better.
MURPHY? NOOOOO!BIRTH OF AN ARSENAL The original Roy Harper is back, and he is more than a bit upset, primarily because of the loss of his right arm. He berates Oliver Queen, whom he blames for the loss of eight years of his life and giving up the search for him. He escapes from his hospital bed and immediately goes after Lex Luthor, the man responsible for both his limb loss and cold storage. A rocket through Lex’ office window leads to an intense fight between Roy and Mercy Graves, Lex’ assistant and bodyguard. With great difficulty, Harper beats Graves by blowing her cybernetic arm off. In a psychotic twist of irony, Roy readies an explosive to remove Luthor’s right arm. In the end, he does not detonate the explosive rope, as the always cunning Luthor was ready with the “satisfaction” he knew would placate Harper. With his new cybernetic arm in tow, Roy tells the Green and Red Arrows that Speedy died eight years ago. He declares that he now favors the name “Arsenal.”
Had to be a closed casket.A FAMILY GRIEVES You can see the pain and guilt in Wally’s eyes as he stands at Artemis’ grave with her mother, Paula. She thanks him for being there for her. The scene itself is tough to watch because you see her mother in tears and you want to tell her that she is still alive as I know Wally wants to. A trio stand off in the distance, not daring to come up to the headstone while Paula is there. Probably the only measure of respect Cheshire and Sportsmaster have shown to Paula in years, they discuss their sadness and anger over the murder of Artemis. Jade swears vengeance on Aqualad and Lawrence says he will have a reckoning with Black Manta. These are two fights I am dying to see. Like I said before, I don’t think Jade will fare as well against an Aqualad with the Atlantic at his disposal. She would have to get him on dry, non-coastal land to stand a chance. A one-on one encounter us not easy to call between Sportsmaster and Black Manta. Manta is much stronger and has a ton of weaponry in his suit, but Sportsmaster is better at hand to hand and also tends to pack a lot of weapons. If Manta is caught not wearing his suit (unlikely) then Sportsmaster wins all day. Either way, this part of the story is going to get very violent.
Ah, the latest in LexCorp bling, you shouldn't have. Seriously, get it off me.LUTHOR’S LOGIC I am not trying to take anything from Lex Luthor as a brilliant strategist, but I wonder about giving Roy the means to make himself whole again . Luthor expected the attempt on his life and so he gave Arsenal the means to be more successful a second time? Obviously, he is not worried. For all we know, he has a bomb hidden in the arm that can go off at a moment’s notice. The only advice I would give Arsenal would be to use that weapon with caution and stay far away from Lex Luthor until he knows that arm inside and out.
Who let Rocket lead the charge?PUT YOUR HANDS UP IF YOU CARE; DIDN’T THINK SO It is understood that to make a complete show, you need at least twenty-two minutes of animation and voice acting. Everyone enjoyed the fight between Roy and Mercy, but it would have made for bad storytelling to drag it on longer. This episode had to have some filler because there was not enough time for a secondary storyline. The choices made for this content were rather poor, unfortunately. I am officially done with the Superboy/Miss Martian romance. They made it work for a while, M’gann screwed it up and it’s over. They have romantic tension now, but who cares? She has not stopped abusing her powers, so she does not deserve to get back with Conner. On that same note, why do I need to know that Wendy Harris has a crush on Conner? Let him have a completely normal, human girlfriend and let M’gann feel like crap about it. That scene should have ended with them kissing and move on. Worst of all was Rocket’s bridal shower. Whoopty-doo, the single mom finally marries her baby-daddy or whoever she is getting married to. This is a special nobody cares moment because nobody likes Rocket. Without me writing it, most probably do not even know that her real name is Raquel Ervin. The only relevance that Captain Cold has is that he is historically one of the people responsible for the death of Bart Allen when he became the fourth Flash. That makes his use in that scene even more useless. I hope the writers are more careful with throwaway scenes in the future.
One-armed hospital kid runs down the block; perfectly normal day.AND THIS IS JUST FUNNY You’re gonna tell me that no one noticed a one-armed guy in a hospital robe (shoulda been bare-assed) running down the street? I am not even going to start on the eight years of cryogenic freezing and the fact that he should not have been able to run so soon. To all that, I will just say “it’s a cartoon, based on a comic book.” and back away slowly.
Yeah. Now I can spank again.It’s funny that I loved this episode when I saw it but after dissecting it, it is far from one of the best. It was probably because it has just been so long since there was a new episode of Young Justice. I have no clue where they intend to go with Arsenal, but he acts very much like his clone, so I doubt he will be joining the team. More likely he will do the solo bit and help them when needed. I have given my opinions on the upcoming retribution fights the Crock family wishes to have against David (Black Manta) and his family. If you want to have a really disturbing read, look up the origin of Black Manta and why he hates Aquaman. Hopefully after Rocket gets married, she will retire and get off the show. And I really hope that M’gann saves La’gann because douchebags deserve douchebags. Someone please change the dirty diaper that was this episode.
I just want you to know, I like it rough.EDITOR'S NOTE: The images in the grotto confirm what I said a few reviews back. Jason Todd was the second Robin in this timeline and he did die, most likely at the hands of the Joker. Will we see Red Hood? Only time will tell.