2x20 Endgame

[7.8/10] There’s a lot of nice things going on here; there’s just too many of them for a half-hour finale. In a scant twenty-one minutes or so, Young Justice has to cover: defeating Black Beetle, saving the Earth from The Reach’s drones, Wally’s big sacrifice, exonerating the Justice League members from the intergalactic court, setting up the trajectories and conflicts for next season, and scads of other grace notes that make everything come off more rushed than it should.

The counterpoint is that I liked all of that stuff! Defeating Black Beetle happens way to quickly given what a threat he was built up to be to this point, and the sense that his gloves have come off. But all it takes is Jaime and his scarab declaring their friendship and boom, they bust up his scarab and render him just a regular alien again. The skeleton of a good story is there, but we needed more time with Jaime and his scarab bonding and maybe a little more setup for the, “Working together, we’re more powerful than anything!” conclusion.

The setup of Reach devices across the world that have to be disarmed with the help of Lex Luthor tech is a strong one. It not only puts the Justice League in bed with someone they despise out of a shared desire that the Earth remain intact, but keeps pairs them up which proves a nice chance for character moments. Aqualad passing the torch to Lagoon Boy, Black Lightning offering to mentor Static, and Wally and Artemis getting one last romantic moment together in Paris is all good stuff. We just go from “The earth is doomed!” to “We’ve mostly taken care of it!” in three minutes.

I do appreciate the fact that there’s one last device they have to stop once it’s already gone off. The various flashes having to race around it is minorly cheap, but no more so than the usual “reverse the polarity” solutions to sci-fi problems. I can also appreciate that Wally wants to race along to help siphon energy from the doomsday device, but because he’s slower than Barry or Bart, the energy bursts hit him more than them.

It’s poetic that after so much concern about the danger Artemis was in while undercover, it’s Wally who makes the ultimate sacrifice in the name of the mission. Again, it’s a little fast, since Wally hasn’t had much to do this season, but we care about him and Artemis from season 1, so watching him nobly save the Earth and everyone he loves at the cost of his life still has some poginance and tragic irony given the broader concerns this year, and the desire for him and Artemis to hang up their belts. (Though I’ll admit, I chuckled at the way he faded away given the recent Oscar tribute to Flash entering the speed force.)

I also appreciate M’gaan and Conner using the recording of The Light’s confession to get the Justice League off the hook. There’s cleverness to the fact that the Intergalactic Tribunal clearly wants a bribe, but the two young heroes convince them that a reputation for fairness will bring them more cases and thus more bribes. It doesn’t fully add up, but there’s an inventiveness to the argument that I appreciate.

Otherwise, there’s tons of little codas and nice moments for the rest of the team as we rush through button up one season and embarking on another. Making public memorials for the fallen heroes is a nice shift. Static joining the team is a boost. Aqualad retaking his place as leader is cool, and there’s added poignant to Dick taking a break after losing one of the Young Justice team’s founding members. The way the various squads are poised to continue “business as usual” is a good “the fight continues” ending.

But we also have Lex poised to assume control of the U.N., and The Light in control of War World, and both Vandal Savage and G. Gordon Godfrey in league with Darkseid. So there’s plenty of new dangers to grapple with.

Overall, this finale has lots of quality material, I just wished they’d stretched it out to two episodes to give things more time to breathe. And season 2 was still good, but a clear step down from season 1, trying to balance too many characters, too many plotlines, and too many needless twists and fakeouts. Still, the show remains a quality watch, which pays off what it built well, albeit more quickly than I might like. On to season 3!