The Five Best Episodes Of Young Justice Season 1
Young Justice fans recently received some goods new. Young Justice Season 3 is on the way! But, [...]
Bereft
After spending the first eight episodes of Young Justice bringing the characters together and slowing molding them into the Team, the show's ninth episode, "Bereft," strips them of everything they've learned over the past six months, as well as their memories of each other.
The Team wakes up in Bialya, a hostile nation, with no memory of why they were sent there. Superboy is the most affected, reverting to a feral state. Artemis doesn't even remember becoming a hero.
Slowly, some of the team begins piecing things together. Batman sent them on a covert mission, but they had their memories altered by the telepathic villain called Psimon. In the end, it comes to down to Miss Martian, the team's own psychic powerhouse, to put Psimon in his place.
By laying our heroes bare, "Bereft" shows us what they're really made of and why they function so well together as the Team.
(Photo: DC Entertainment)
prevnextFailsafe
"Failsafe" feels like an episode of Young Justice episode by way of The Twilight Zone.
Most of "Failsafe" takes place in what feels like a "darkest timeline" version of Young Justice. The Earth is invaded by aliens. The Justice League tries to stop them, but are defeated and killed. The Team steps up to take their place, but soon even they are counting casualties. Viewers will quickly find themselves wondering, "What is going on? Can this show really do all of this?
No, not really. The last act twist comes when Martian Manhunter is revealed to have survived the alien attack. The Team sacrificed themselves to destroy the alien mothership, only for another mothership to land in its place. When Martian Manhunter finally kills Miss Martian, the entire scenario is revealed to be a psychic training exercise gone wrong.
"Failsafe" is arguably one of the most harrowing, and therefore most memorable, episodes of Young Justice.
prevnextMisplaced
"Misplaced" features one of the most creative story structures seen so far in an episode of Young Justice.
The episode sees Klarion the Witch Boy, a Lord of Chaos and a member of the Light, gathering several other sorcerers to cast a spell separating Earth's children and adults into two separate dimensions.
Luckily Captain Marvel, a member fo the Justice League who has been assigned to be the Team's supervisor. Because Captain Marvel is an adult superhero who is secretly also the young boy named Billy Batson, he alone can travel back and forth between both dimensions, allowing the Justice League and the Team to coordinate a plan.
Unfortunately, in order to pull off the plan successfully, Zatanna to put on the Helmet of Fate and become Doctor Fate, the host for the Lord of Order called Nabu. When Klarion's spell is broken, Nabu insists on continuing to possess Zatanna in order to fend off future mystical threats.
In order to free his daughter, Justice League member Zatara offers himself as Doctor Fate's new host in Zatanna's place. Nabu agrees and frees Zatanna. Zatara has remained Doctor Fate for over five years, a plot thread Young Justice will hopefully address further in Season 3.
prevnextColdhearted
"Coldhearted" is almost entirely a solo story spotlighting Kid Flash. The young speedster Wally West is celebrating his birthday. When crisis strikes, he thinks he's being called to fight alongside the Justice League, just like he's always wanted. Instead, Kid Flash is assigned a delivery job, which he accepts with a fair bit of a disappointment.
With a massive snowstorm blanketing the entire United States, Kid Flash is tasked with running a human heart cross-country, from Boston to a hospital in Seattle, so that it can be used in a transplant surgery to save a young girl's life.
The first hint that there's more to this heart than it originally seemed comes when Kid Flash is obstructed by Vandal Savage on his route. Then, when he finally reaches the Seattle hospital, Kid Flash is tricked into giving the heart away.
Eventually, Kid Flash learns that the heart was meant for a sick princess and that her uncle, Count Vertigo, stole it so that he could rule in his niece's stead. Kid Flash learns a valuable lesson about the difference between heroism and seeking glory for selfish reasons in one of Young Justice's most human tales.
prevnextAuld Acquaintance
The first season finale for Young Justice, "Auld Acquaintance," is nearly perfect, fulfilling the very promise and premise that birthed Young Justice, to begin with.
After being passed over for full membership in the Justice League in the very first episode of Young Justice, the Team must find a way to defeat their mentors.
Luckily for the Team, the Justice League is only operating as well as Klarion can tell them too with his mysterious mind control technology. It all culminates with a multigenerational tag team match for the ages when Superboy and Robin are forced to take on Superman and Batman.
"Auld Acquaintance" is also the book end of one long-running Young Justice plot and the beginning of another. Red Arrow is finally revealed to be the traitor Aqualad has been keeping an eye out for since early in the season.
With that mystery is solved, a new one presents itself. While the Justice League regains their senses, a group of them that was sent off the planet for has no memory of where they went or what they did out in space. It's a mystery that wouldn't be resolved until well into Young Justice: Invasion.
prev