Episodes 7 to 9 Review
Young Justice: Outsiders
Episodes 7, 8, and 9 amps the stakes of the world of Young Justice by exploring the mythology of the series - past, present, and future - with answers, revelations, and gatherings. By the end of episode 9, it will become clear that the Light is still a monolithic force but now it's clearer what drives it but more dangerously, they're not taking the young heroes lightly anymore.
Episode 7 "Evolution" is an origin story on the surface that explores the secret history and ideology of Earth's first hero and metahuman but it soon becomes clear several origin stories are involved and at its core, "Evolution" is probably going to go down as the most important mythology story in the entire series complete with answers to questions we've been wondering about since season one and a whole lot of bombshells (yeah, there's a lot of them this season).
An alien armada not affiliated with the Light or Apokolips makes a beeline for Earth. The problem is the Justice League is ill-equipped - the heroes stationed on Earth are fractured from Batman's resignation debacle and the big guns are still away on its galactic goodwill tour. It soon becomes clear a major ally of the Justice League has also been hamstrung this season and only one person and his progeny can deal with the latest alien threat but he must rely on his near millennia-long alliance but when the true identity of the armada's master makes the battle very personal to our "hero" and makes a strong connection to his past. Expect a couple more character debuts, some tweaked for the series' canon, and some unexpected reveals that span plot points from season one, season two, and even the Legacy video game. Maybe you'll see this character in a different light by the end of this episode or hopefully, your common sense will kick in and stop you from empathizing with him. "Evolution" ends with a touching memorial.
The b story for "Evolution" revolves around Dick Grayson, Connor Kent, and Artemis Crock training their new team in Happy Harbor. Listen real carefully, as the start of this story drops some very, very interesting character mentions. Dick is satisfied with Brion, Violet, and Forager's progress and feels it's time for the next step, super suits and codenames. Expect fun moments of levity when it comes to codenames. The training session ends with the discovery of a new ability... and thus, more training. Meanwhile, Jefferson Pierce and Dr. Jace's friendship escalates to say the least but we saw it coming.
Episode 8 "Triptych" deals with the Justice League, Batman's team, and Nightwing's team dealing with metatrafficking over the span of 16 days. The format of the episode is somewhat out of order, and while disjointing at times, the timelines converge into one and things become very clear by the end of the episode with (drum roll) another revelation. Oh yeah, and there's a lot of returning characters from past seasons and more new characters. And as a bonus, Brion's arc gets another breadcrumb. Unfortunately, there's way too much to spoil about this episode but it should satisfy those who have been wondering when there's going to be a solid focus for members of the League or Batman's team and a solid outing for Nightwing's new team. However, once again, don't hold your breath that there will be a large presence of the Team.
Episode 9 "Home Fires" centers on the Light gathering in person to talk about two pressing situations and solving them. Through an intermediary, the Light hires Lobo to assassinate someone on Earth and that someone happens to be a member of Nightwing's team. Expect some great action as a result. But also some heightened violence you'd never have seen on Cartoon Network. The Light's other problem is a villain with a grudge who's going with the "nuclear option" and when the identity of this character is revealed, expect long time fans of the series to proclaim, "Finally!" then their jaws will drop to the floor. But even before that, the subject of this character's observations (well, full-on stalking) will be another gathering centered around a common connection - chock full of status updates on several existing characters, some of which will raise some eyebrows, and... new characters. Surprised at this point? Again, it's hard to talk about this episode in detail because there's lot's of spoilers but I will say, get those eagle eyes ready because there's a cool reference to a crime fighting duo on a comic book being read by a blonde around the 7 minute mark. By the end, the Light has accomplished its objectives which would annoy some fans but begrudgingly, they actually saved a lot of lives of people important to our heroes. Still, the Light now has the young heroes in their cross hairs...
Rating: 4.5 out of 5