[7.7/10[ A definite improvement on the first episode. It’s nice that we have three locus points for everything -- Robin following one target, Artemis following another, and Superboy and Black Lightning following a third -- to help focus the action.
I’ll confess, I’m still pretty meh on the Markovian royal family drama. I get that we need a new center of the action, and this is a chance for palace intrigue. But I still feel like I don’t really know or care about any of these people, and the show needs to do more to establish them before going off on the superheroic shenanigans.
Still, I appreciate the reveal that Count Vertigo is running the secret metahuman trafficking regime. He’s a known bad operator in a similar space, so he makes sense as an antagonist. The reveal that Dr. Ecks and Dr. Jace are both in it is not surprising, but also adds to the developments at play. The confrontation between Superboy, Black Lightning, Vertigo, and Plasmus feels like a big enough deal given the players, and showing a secret human experimentation lab in Markovia confirms the heroes’ worst fears.
I’m intrigued by Artemis finding one of their victims, whose superpowers allow her to survive being tested and left for dead. I’m not sure where they’re going with this one, but the idea of someone who’s been on the inside and knows what the baddies are up to is a rich one. You can see her and Conner bonding over having been experimented on by bad people.
That said, I don’t especially care for Prince Brion trying to become a superhero through metagene activation. He’s just a little too generic of a character. Upstanding good guys are a positive thing, but you need some extra flavor to make it work, and “We have to take daring action” isn’t a good enough reason.
I do appreciate the little bits of world-building we get here. Seeing the U.N.’s reaction to Batman and company resigning from the League in protest is a cool way to kick things off. The infighting that results helps show tensions in the international scene that make the Young Justice team’s work harder, and various countervailing interests. And as a Star Trek fan, it’s amusing to see that Beast Boy is apparently a star on a DC universe equivalent series, with a PSA against metahuman trafficking.
Overall, this one is more focused and exciting than the previous, table-setting episode, moving the ball and giving us an exciting mission, even if I wish there was more time spent on developing some of the newer characters.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2022-06-07T22:38:21Z
[7.7/10[ A definite improvement on the first episode. It’s nice that we have three locus points for everything -- Robin following one target, Artemis following another, and Superboy and Black Lightning following a third -- to help focus the action.
I’ll confess, I’m still pretty meh on the Markovian royal family drama. I get that we need a new center of the action, and this is a chance for palace intrigue. But I still feel like I don’t really know or care about any of these people, and the show needs to do more to establish them before going off on the superheroic shenanigans.
Still, I appreciate the reveal that Count Vertigo is running the secret metahuman trafficking regime. He’s a known bad operator in a similar space, so he makes sense as an antagonist. The reveal that Dr. Ecks and Dr. Jace are both in it is not surprising, but also adds to the developments at play. The confrontation between Superboy, Black Lightning, Vertigo, and Plasmus feels like a big enough deal given the players, and showing a secret human experimentation lab in Markovia confirms the heroes’ worst fears.
I’m intrigued by Artemis finding one of their victims, whose superpowers allow her to survive being tested and left for dead. I’m not sure where they’re going with this one, but the idea of someone who’s been on the inside and knows what the baddies are up to is a rich one. You can see her and Conner bonding over having been experimented on by bad people.
That said, I don’t especially care for Prince Brion trying to become a superhero through metagene activation. He’s just a little too generic of a character. Upstanding good guys are a positive thing, but you need some extra flavor to make it work, and “We have to take daring action” isn’t a good enough reason.
I do appreciate the little bits of world-building we get here. Seeing the U.N.’s reaction to Batman and company resigning from the League in protest is a cool way to kick things off. The infighting that results helps show tensions in the international scene that make the Young Justice team’s work harder, and various countervailing interests. And as a Star Trek fan, it’s amusing to see that Beast Boy is apparently a star on a DC universe equivalent series, with a PSA against metahuman trafficking.
Overall, this one is more focused and exciting than the previous, table-setting episode, moving the ball and giving us an exciting mission, even if I wish there was more time spent on developing some of the newer characters.