It’s been a long and winding (and occasionally violent) road, but this week brings the three-part finale of Young Justice: Outsiders! Loyalties are tested, villains are battled, and the Justice League is changed… for the better? We have a lot to dig into, so let’s get started. As always, beware of spoilers.
This week on Young Justice!
We kick things off with “Into the Breach,” in which our heroes finally take the fight to Granny Goodness in an effort to rescue Violet and the missing members of the Justice League. The show benefits from the choice to focus on a singular mission here. This season has had a bit of trouble juggling several different side plots and characters at once, so it was great to see this episode devote its time to one mission.
It’s an impressive battle, particularly the one that goes down between Garfield and Granny. The visual of seeing an old lady throwing down with a green rhino like it ain’t no thang isn’t something you see every day. We also get quite a bit of Vic Stone finally becoming the hero we knew he could be. One of this season’s strong points has been showing us how Vic has progressed as a hero and as a friend to the rest of the team. Here, we see him finally embracing his differences and using the things that make him different to help save the world.
What doesn’t quite work so well is the underwhelming resolution to various villain storylines. We’re not quite given a satisfactory explanation for the how, but not the why. It seems perfectly reasonable for Granny to moonlight as Gretchen Goode without the added weirdness of the literal split personality. Still, it did pave the way for some truly wild Cronenbergian visuals on par with the creepy meta-hybrid creature we saw several episodes ago.
Likewise, the Bug insurrection on New Genesis and the involvement of M’gann’s brother are more or less swept under the rug, with Ma’alefa’ak returning to Mars offscreen and Forager being told it’s now safe for him to return home. It kind of leads one to wonder what the point was in the storyline to begin with.
Still, there was enough forward momentum in that episode to allow the second part of the finale, “Overwhelmed,” to breathe. And boy, was this episode an emotional doozy. Not only was it packed with callbacks to series continuity (it was great to see the former denizens of Cadmus thriving in their own city, regardless of the fact that they still find themselves in the shadows), but we got to see Artemis work through her grief in a productive way. These scenes also offered a beautiful parallel to Zatanna’s own grieving process we saw earlier in the season, when we saw her spend one day with her father.
Still, the way in which Artemis works through things, seeing Wally in a mental projection that she believes to be Limbo, raises a whole other series of questions. This whole season has dealt with our heroes finding ways of manipulating the truth to what they believe to be justifiable ends, and this is honestly no different. How will Artemis react when she inevitably finds out the truth? This is a pretty massive lie to tell, even for what appear to be the right reasons. Whatever the fallout, it was a treat to again hear Jason Spisak as Wally West.
The season finale, “Nevermore,” delivers twist after twist. After setting us up for a version of The Judas Contract all season, it doesn’t at all play out in the way we’d expect. Tara finally sees the light and her brother is lost to the Light, a pawn in a game he doesn’t even realizes he’s a part of.
It’s hard not to sympathize with Brion. So much of the conflict from this season has come from everyone lying to one another. Framing Brion’s rise and fall around a series of deceptions from friends and foes alike really drives home the season’s themes.
Where the episode falters, again, is the way in which it attempts to tie up loose ends. The resolution of the Vandal Savage/Darkseid rivalry feels a little too tidy. We’re meant to believe that they just sort of talked it out offscreen, but the season’s usage of Darkseid has been rather underwhelming, especially considering how long we waited for the cliffhanger of season two to be resolved.
Still, if the final moments of the episode are to be believed, the danger is far from over. In fact, we may be dealing with a threat that effects the future of our heroes’ universe. Happily, we won’t have to wait another several years for the next episode! Until then, just remember: We are all Outsiders.
Outside Observations:
- The Slobo fake-out made me laugh out loud. What an utterly bizarre note to end the season on.
- “Now we have to find Cheshire for Daddy!” Oof. From the mouths of babes. As cute as she is, Lian’s dialogue is occasionally a punch in the gut.
- Hell yes, Jefferson. I can’t wait to see what the League becomes under your leadership. It’s a brand new day for our heroes. Hopefully one with fewer lies.
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