Let me start by saying that I am very happy with this DC Nation block on Cartoon Network. The fact that new episodes of Young Justice will air directly after new episodes of the new Green Lantern Animated Series is pretty cool to me. It makes viewing and keeping up with each series much easier but also makes Saturday morning cartoons cool again, at least for me anyway.
With that said, this new episode of Young Justice created a strong return after the 3 month hiatus. As mentioned in the teaser, Klarion the Witch Boy and other socerers from the DC Universe band together to cast a spell that banishes all adults, including the Justice League and Red Arrow, to vanish from the Earth. The responsibility falls on the team to not only keep all the children of the Earth calm, but to also combat these mystics and return things to normal.
It goes without saying that this is obviously a very magic/mystic based episode. And what would a magic based episode be without the father/daughter duo of Zatarra and Zatanna. "Misplaced" marks the first episode where Zatanna becomes a full-time member of the Team, which I think is both exciting and necessary. The Team has always had a bit of diversity with a speedster, an Atlantean, a two aliens, and two normal human beings in the form of Robin and Artemis. But while the Team has faced magical enemies before, they've never had a full-time mystic based member, so I think it will strengthen them to have her as a full-timer.
I often find that the simpliest storylines usually create the best episodes. Adults are magically vanished from the Earth due to magic and the Team has to work together to bring them back. It gives them a simple plot to follow, while giving the rest of the episode a lot of time and oppertunity to expand on the growth and maturing of the characters. Without divulging any spoilers, I will say that the character that goes through the most growth in this episode is Zatanna. This episode is very much about her and how inadequate she feels being in the "GREAT Zatarra's" shadow. You see how she is constantly trying to gain his approval, while at the same time wanting to branch out from him to grow on her own.
Another, very strong, plot in this episode is the return of the Helmet of Fate. In "Misplaced", we get to see a more serious side of Walley/Kid Flash as he and Kaldor/Aqualad discuss the seriousness and the necessity of using the Fate of Naboo. They realize that Doctor Fate wants a permanant human host to inhabit, so the next person to put on the Helmet may not get it off. While at the same time, stopping Klarion and the other evil mystics will require a powerful mystical force. It is how the Team weighs their options and calculate risk that we see just how much they've grown and matured over the past few months. They are no longer just a "Junior Justice League" that is run by Batman. They ARE a team and they know how to operate on their own.
Of course, the animation remains one of the strongest aspects of the show, in my opinion. While the show may center on teenaged superheroes, the animation and character designs lend an edgier, darker, and more serious look to the series. When I watch this show, I don't feel like I'm watching a cartoon or some series made for kids. Young Justice remains a show that is centered towards teens and young adults. This animation is on par with the animation that we see in all of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies and clearly shows why we usually have to wait months at a time for a string of new episodes to air. The level of detail in this show really must require months of production.
The only real problem that I found with this episode was the quick incapacitation of Superboy. While I realize that you can't have him fixing everything or always being the most powerful, it is just a little bit frustrating for me, as a huge Superman fan, to see him taken out fairly quickly. HOWEVER, I then remind myself that this episode wasn't about him, or even so much the Team. As forementioned, this episode is centered on Zatanna. How she will grow and how she becomes a full-time member of the Team.
This was a very strong episode that really helps in starting to pull all of the season long plots together. You will see at the end that Klarion and his crew's goal was NOT to eliminate adults, but was instead something else entirely. The Light definately has something HUGE in store for the Justice League AND for the Team. The mystery still abounds and speculation is still rampant as we are all trying to figure out what the Light's ultimate goal is. With 7 episodes left in the 26-episode first season, I can easily say that I am just as thrilled with this series now as I was when it first aired. Please be sure to post your comments and opinions in the usual place.