September 30, 2012 by

When we last left the Team in Young Justice: Invasion, things weren't going so smoothly. Sure, the real Roy Harper had been recovered and time travelling speedster Bart Allen arrived to save his grandfather's life, but humans were still being kidnapped and being tested to find a Metagene. Lagoon Boy had been captured by ex-Team member Aqualad, who as it later turns out, is in deep cover in his dad Black Manta's organization and had to "kill" Artemis to prove himself to his biological father and learn exactly what it is the Light's been planning. At the end of the last episode back in June or so, Wally, after watching his girlfriend and Kaldur return to Black Manta, says "it only gets more dangerous from here."

Now we're back, two days later (for them), and things are starting to amp up. The real Roy is out for payback against Lex Luthor, unwilling to take apologies from his clone or his old mentor. Rather than being mad at Red Arrow, he's got a real beef with Ollie, who he feels just left him in Luthor's hands for eight whole years. It's in the opening hospital scene where Crispin Freeman nails it, providing a distinct difference in tone and pitch as both Roys. It'd be one thing to find out you've been gone for nearly an entire decade and replaced by a clone, but seeing that clone tell you about your kidnapping while having your literal arm can't be an easy pill to swallow. It's only natural that Roy goes off the deep end, grabbing every piece of heavy weaponry he can to take down Luthor. Even with one arm gone, the fight between Roy and Luthor's assistant Mercy is tense and exciting, because neither have been seen in combat before. Even the characters without superpowers are just as impressive, and sometimes better, than the characters with superpowers, which goes to show how great this series is.

While Roy continues his one-armed quest for vengeance, the Team is dealing with the loss of Artemis. Sportsmaster and Cheshire are gunning for Black Manta and Aqualad, which should prove to be an impressive fight down the line. Jaime, Gar, Bart, and Tim are gazing at the now four dead heroes: in addition to the archess, there's Blue Beetle Ted Kord, Kaldur's old flame Tula, and Jason Todd. Yeah, you read that right. Jason Todd was around during the five-year time skip, which is a huge first for him. He's never been in any animated DC continuity to date(barring the film Under the Red Hood, which you should all watch), so it's safe to say that somewhere down the line, he'll come back as Red Hood in either the show or the comic. If nothing else, the scene goes to highlight the bond Jaime and Bart will inevitably have, which should lead to a fun team-up between them in the near future.

The girls of the Team are all gathering for Rocket's wedding shower before getting in costume to take down Captain Cold. Even though this moment is brief, it's a sight to see all seven of them--Zatanna, Miss Martian, Batgirl, Wonder Girl, Bumblebee, Rocket, and Black Canary--stand side by side, surrounded by ice as Cold realizes he's doomed. The last time the show handled an all-female episode didn't really grab my attention, but if they had these seven heroes as the cast, I'd watch it in a heartbeat.

Once Roy corners Luthor, the big bald man hands him a briefcase with a robot arm. "What is it you really want," Luthor asks: "Revenge, or satisfaction?" Harper obviously chooses the latter, and his calmness to Red and Green Arrows about blowing up the top floor of LexCorp and changing his identity to Arsenal can't be good. If last season's subplot about Superboy getting addicted to Luthor's power-enhancing patches are any indication, things aren't going to end well for Arsenal, especially given how clearly psychotic he is. If nothing else, Luthor probably has some sort of failsafe in the arm should Mr. Harper try another revenge scheme, which he probably will.

The overall theme to this episode is moving on after a tragedy. Like the New Gods episode from season one, everyone is broken and trying to stay strong, even when it's hard. The scene where the girls point out that Artemis would hit them all for mourning her at Raquel's bridal shower sums this up perfectly, along with Jaime's rant to Bart in the Grotto about how among the others, he's basically an orphan. I'm really hoping that we don't just get to see Bart and Jaime team up, but that we also see Guy Gardner or Booster Gold show up to teach him more about the Scarab. Hell, if they even brought Kord back or showed him in some flashbacks, I'd be perfectly okay with that.

"Satisfaction" is a great episode to jump back in Young Justice with. It doesn't move the overall story forward, but it does subtly recap what happened if you didn't catch up over the summer while also laying down the groundwork for what's to come. I still recommend checking out the earlier seven episodes of the season, but either way, you won't be disappointed. This is one of DC's best animated efforts to date.

Grade: B

Check back soon for my reviews of the first season of Black Dynamite and the premiere of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

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