By: Mark Julian
This was best episode of Young Justice yet. I sound like a broken record it seems but the show just keeps picking up steam after each episode. I was watching this episode and thinking to myself, “This episode is approaching Justice League Unlimited status.” But then we got to the end and the “It Was All Just A Dream” classic TV trope. Still, this episode was the best episode yet and this show continues to improve upon itself after every episode.
From the opening minute, this episode had my attention. It’s not every day that Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart, Superman, Captain Atom, Martian Manhunter, Captain Marvel and Batman all bite the bullet in the opening minutes of the show. Now of course I’m not fooled into believing this is going to hold up. Naturally, my first thought was that this is either a dream or I’m looking at the future and someone is going to end up going back in time à la the DC Universe Online trailer.
Moving on, we see a lot of members of the Justice League putting up a valiant but ultimately futile fight against invading alien ships until finally only the Young Justice team is left to defend Earth. The team quickly forms a plan of action consisting of a more in-direct approach after watching the entire Justice League get taken down in their full frontal assault. It seemed really improbable that the rest of the Justice League, even without Batman, wouldn’t come to the realization that directly confronting the ships isn’t the smartest of ideas. At this point, I couldn’t decide whether this was done to highlight the importance of Batman as the Justice League’s tactician or if this was simply an effect of the dream scenario. Lucky for the Young Justice team, Aqualad had the brains to recognize that a head-on confrontation would be suicidal. However, he nullifies the impression that he’s a smart leader later on in the episode and would be justly criticized by Robin. Specifically, Aqualad sacrificed himself so that the team can make a getaway, a move that Robin condemns due to the fact that it left the team without a leader. This notion was an intriguing one, on one hand you have the heroic sacrifice by Aqualad and on the other you have the cold, calculating logic of someone who trained under Batman. Is a better leader the individual who’ll sacrifice himself to protect the team or the individual who views the team as pieces to be used and moved as he sees fit? I think I’ll leave it up to you guys to discuss the merits of these ideas in the comments section below. One of the highlights of the ep for me was seeing Robin assume leadership of the remaining team members and I’m sure that was a tease of what’s to come for the Young Justice team. The Boy Wonder will definitely be assuming command of the team from Aqualad, it’s just a matter of time.
The twist of the episode comes when the remaining team members realize that the lasers fired by the ships are actually teleportation beams and that there’s a chance that everyone is still alive. This wasn’t a complete surprise, as I was expecting something like this but not necessarily this particular "get out of jail free card". Without making this too "spoilerific", I'll just say that at this point, the general logic-structures that shows of this nature follow starts to fall apart and then it becomes readily apparent that this was a dream. Still, we’re 25 minutes into the episode by now and I thoroughly enjoyed everything that came before so this ending is 100% excusable.
Now for analysis. This episode was devoid of the mysterious “Light” organization, which consists of Vandal Savage, Queen Bee, Ocean Master, Ra's al Ghul, The Brain, Klarion the Witch Boy, and Lex Luthor. So what was the point? Well, this story definitely contains themes that will be present in Season 2 of Young Justice. The teaser poster released reveals that the team will be dealing with an alien invasion to kick off the second season which is exactly what the training exercise foreshadowed. It appears that the exercise was Batman’s idea so it will be interesting to see if this is something Batman and the rest of the League are currently tracking. Also, the use of Miss Martian and the prominence placed on her mental powers leads me to believe that it will eventually be revealed that she’s a White Martian and it’s her people that will be attacking. Connecting the dots, I believe Miss Martian is the "mole" Sportsmaster was referring to, not Artemis and that both the Justice League and The Light are making chess moves in preparation for a White Martian Invasion. Also, we really saw Robin step up and assume more of a leadership role. The only question now I believe is whether the leadership swap will happen before the end of Season 1 or at the start of Season 2. The episode was directed by Jay Olivia and was truly the standout episode of the season. This bodes well for the future of DC animation.
