This weekend, it occurred to me that the large majority of shows I DVR on a series basis are cartoons and specifically weekend cartoons. Between Bob’s Burgers, The Legend of Korra, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the entire showcases on both DC Nation and Marvel Universe, I have a very busy Saturday/Sunday schedule. I’ve been highly impressed with both DC Nation and Marvel Universe in the month or so that they’ve both been airing, and it’s been fun to finally start watching Young Justice on a regular basis.
Before DC Nation started, I had only watched Young Justice a handful of times because 1). I was never quite sure when it was on and 2). I was right smack dab in the middle of the season and the overarching storyline. When I started recording DC Nation, I finally started watching the show on a weekly basis and found it immediately easy to get into. There are certainly characters I knew better in the adult heroes (especially Batman), but the young heroes are well-rounded and likable characters coming into their own as protectors of Earth. From the scattered episodes I’ve seen throughout the show so far, there is a definite growth in these characters’ relationships, with trust built gradually over time. On top of that, there have been season-long secrets held by a handful of characters — it was so great to see Artemis, Superboy and Miss Martian come clean with the skeletons in their closet in the episode before the finale. Of course, the story can’t ever end completely happily, since the series’ main group of evildoers, deceptively-named “the Light,” now have the entire Justice League under mind-control. Oh, and the mole was Red Arrow the whole time.
For the season finale, “Auld Acquaintance,” we got to see just how far the Team has come and how much stronger they are now that they trust each other. They are smart enough to realize very quickly that something is off with the Justice League and quickly apprehend Black Canary. On top of that, it was fun to see Red Tornado working with them in his humanoid body and how he gave them the key clue to what was happening. I know quite a few people were disappointed last week that Red Arrow was the mole but didn’t realize what he was doing … revealing him to be a clone of Roy Harper was actually a nice way around it, and as far as I can tell it holds up from the rest of the events of the series so far. It will make for an intriguing storyline next season since Red Arrow never felt like a real part of the group and now he doesn’t even feel human. I really liked the exchange between Aqualad and Red Arrow toward the beginning of the episode; it’s a quiet example of why Kaldur’ahm makes such a great leader for the team.
Like last week’s episode, “Auld Aquaintance” had a twist at the end of the 2nd act to fool the audience. Because I was fooled by last week’s red herring, I was fooled this week. But really the best parts of the episode were watching the team as a whole, especially when they each fought their hypnotized mentors. This show has some great action and animation, which were both crucial in these scenes. I also loved seeing Superboy get really pissed off at Martian Manhunter for hurting Miss Martian — I’ve been aw-ing at this couple ever since he told her he didn’t care about her true form during last week’s episode. So cute. And I also really liked Zatanna trying to take off her father’s mask, as well as the entire Robin and Superboy/Batman and Superman fight.
While the first episode of the show was set on the 4th of July, it was only fitting that the season finale ended on New Years … yes, the fight literally ended at 12:00 on the nose with all the love interests stealing kisses … and the unattached Rocket giving the unattached Aqualad a kiss on the cheek. Oh, and Red Tornado going all Data on us again and noting that he doesn’t quite understand such human customs.
The episode officially ends on some very bright moments, including Superboy revealing that he unintentionally took the last name of Kent for his alias … and that Superman is proud to think of him as family. Of course, it can never be a truly happy ending when it comes to Young Justice; it’s revealed to the audience that The Light have taken the missing real Roy Harper as their unconscious prisoner. On top of that, six of the Justice League members (arguably the strongest and most dangerous of the team) cannot account for 16 hours of their time while under the mind-control. What happened to them (and what exactly they did to aid Savage and The Light) will surely be revealed in the next season.
Normally this is the time when I’d gripe about having to wait months or even close to a year until we get new episode. However, this is not the case for Young Justice. The 2nd season will begin … April 28th. This Saturday. Yes, Cartoon Network is wasting absolutely no time in bringing us the next chapter in the story. Not that I’m complaining.
Clacked by Katie Schenkel 
on Apr 23, 2012 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
