The Reach apocalypse, as referred to by Jaime, no longer has any bumps in the road. The Reach have all of their warriors under their control and the majority of the Earth quite literally eating out of their hands. The team might feel like they lost out on four new recruits, but if they had followed Jaime, they would have wound up back in Reach pods. I shudder to think how Lex Luthor will use them, but it is still the lesser of two evils. Speaking of evils, it seems that The Light is looking to double-cross The Reach. Lex Luthor told the four teens that he would protect them from their former captors and he will make good on that for as long as they serve a purpose to him. All that is left to see is what that purpose is. I have a feeling that partnership between these two groups may not have very much time left.
Yeah, gonna need to change my undies before the apocalypse.THAT’S NO MOON The trial on Rimbor drags forward as Superman pleads the innocence of his people. Vandal Savage looks on from the shadows with Mongul and convinces the tyrant that the presence of The Reach on Earth interferes with his plans for galactic conquest. As Mongul brings his Warworld within attack range of the Earth, The Reach state their rightful claim to the planet and request that he reverse course. Mongul refuses and states that their presence is the reason he has come. The Justice League then tries to contact him and request that he stand down, but he insists that his destruction of Earth is a mercy compared to what The Reach will do. The combined effort of the Justice League, the team and the military forces of Earth’s nations stop the initial assault but are not enough to prevent the Earth’s decimation. The Reach step in to save the Earth and in the process reveal that they had a hidden fleet in an ocean trench. Inside the Warworld, the team attacks on three separate fronts. Bumblebee reroutes power to cause a feedback that dazes Mongul. With that opening, Superboy, Wonder Girl and Arsenal take down Mongul. Blue Beetle pretends to be a good guy while working with Beast Boy and Impulse to take the crystal key that activates the Warworld. Once the three teams meet up, Blue shows his true colors and turns on the team, easily incapacitating all but Arsenal, who abandons the team due to his fear of being a captive again. Having taken down Mongol and the majority of the Reach’s adversaries, the Ambassador considers the debacle to have been worth the loss of ships.
Aw c’mon! I just put on clean undies!MEDIA SUICIDE The Ambassador did make the right call in saving the Earth because there would not have been much left for the Reach to exploit otherwise. The problem he now faces is the media backlash and shift in public opinion since the Reach was just caught in a lie. When the Warworld was approaching, he specifically said that his people only had the one ship on Earth. The mere presence of that many more indicates malicious intent as does hiding them from detection. The only thing that might distract people is if The Reach use Blue Beetle and claim that it was he who stopped Mongul inside the Warworld. There would be no one to dispute that and even if the members of the team were public knowledge, there is no proof that they were ever there. The Ambassador is a master manipulator, so let’s see how he gets out of this one.
Get away from that switch, you bitch!THE ONE MAN BAND Arsenal has had plenty of reason to be angry since his rescue. I mean, he was cloned, said clone almost facilitated the success of The Light, he lost his arm and his partner had given up the search for him. Even still, he has not been much of a team player, always doing what he wants to instead of following orders. Were Superboy not Kryptonian, he might have buried him with his rocket launcher inside the Warworld. And his irrational behavior when Blue Beetle turned on the team is inexcusable. Opening an air lock when most of your team needs to breathe is not cool. Even after that, Conner still took a hit for him, allowing him to escape. I used to come down hard on Conner for his behavior but he was always there for the team in a pinch. The true jerk of the century award goes to the real Roy Harper.
Lights out, hermano!BUG IN THE SYSTEM Jaime Reyes had been fearful for a long time that he was going to turn on his friends and be an agent of The Reach. Now that it has happened, I have to wonder what it will take to bring him back. I also wish that while he was attacking his friends that we could have seen things from his perspective. He had to be trying to fight the Scarab’s control. Granted, it is lodged in his spinal cord so it is no wonder that it has control of his motor functions, but I doubt that it controls his mind. It would have been interesting to hear the conversation between him and the Scarab while the fight was happening since I am sure that his perspective of the fight would have been similar to watching a video game play before one’s eyes.
Um, can you guys go to intermission? I need the little boys’ room.WHY ASK WHY? I have to give props to the writers for using the original version of Mongul and the Warworld versus the retconned history that the old Justice League show went with where the Warworld was a planet that Mongul ruled over. Even more of a joy was hearing Keith David voice this monster, although I think I would have preferred him as Darkseid unless Michael Ironside ever reprises the role. That said, I have to feel like Mongul was just thrown in and not used very well considering that this is a guy who has beaten down the entire Justice League and caused Superman all kinds of grief. I get that this was a turning point episode with Blue Beetle showing his evil side and having The Reach be exposed as liars; to do that, there had to be extreme circumstances. This episode just felt like an abuse of a good bad guy. For one, if Grand Laser Emitter would have destroyed the Earth in minutes, it should have done way more damage to the Warworld when fate sent the shot back. I doubt that we will see more of Mongul in the show and that is a serious waste. By himself, this guy could carry at least a few episodes.
Earthlings, so proud of their noses…Wait’ll they get a load of me!Once again, I find myself enjoying the final episodes of the series, but not as much as earlier ones because it really feels like the writers are racing to the finish. Unlike the last episode, this one did not have much in the way of plot holes, but I think that is primarily because the story was so action heavy. The setup came from the beginning on Rimbor and just went into high gear from there. Really, I think my only complaint here is Mongul and that is only because I know how much potential there would be to have him as a major villain in the story versus a one-shot like Clayface or Mister Twister. There have been many fan discussions over who would win a fight between Mongul and Darkseid; I would think this guy deserves a little more respect. What is done is done however, and I just really hope that no more new characters are introduced to the story with only five episodes left in the series.
Slick’s Nit-Picks: Young Justice Invasion, Episode 212 – “True Colors”
Slick’s Nit-Picks: Young Justice Invasion, Episode 213 – “The Fix”
Slick’s Nit-Picks: Young Justice Invasion, Episode 214 – “Runaways”
