Young Justice Episode 2

Last time on Young Justice, after being slighted by the Justice Leauge, Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash decided to try and prove themselves by investigating the shady organization known as Cadmus. However, the team may have bit off more than they can chew when they encounter that the sub-labs of Cadmus are full of powerful monsters and a mind-controlled clone of Superman who incapacitates them. Our episode opens with a Cadmus scientist, Dr. Desmond, talking to his employers, a secret organization known only as The Light. He’s instructed to clone the young heroes and dispose of the originals, and he agrees, though is unnerved to learn that Superboy has already taken them to the cloning pods, something that he wasn’t instructed to do.

Speaking of, Superboy is staring at the three captured young heroes. When asked if he knows what he is, Superboy says that he is a clone, intended to replace Superman should he parish, and combat him should he become a threat. The three acknowledge that wanting to be like Superman is a worthy aspiration, but like Superman, he deserves a life of his own. The three seem to be getting through to Superboy until Desmond comes in and Superboy is ordered back into his tube. However, using his telepathy, Aqualad is able to convince Superboy to choose freedom over servitude and he turns on Desmond and the four heroes run for their lives.

Desmond isn’t exactly the type to take this lying down, and orders the activation of every genomorph (Cadmus’s name for the monsters they’ve created) at their disposal activated. The four heroes fight their way through a gauntlet of monsters using both their strength to overpower them and their ingenuity to evade them until finally, they reach ground level, where the genomorphs have them surrounded. However, Doublex, a Telepathic and hyper intelligent genomorph, exposits that Superboy, who is thought of as a Genomorph as well, represents the hope for their species that all of them may gain freedom some day and the other Genomorphs stand down. However, Desmond isn’t ready to give up without a fight, drinking a special science potion and transforming into a hideous monster.

The final boss fight against Desmond is actually really great as the three powered heroes work together to keep him off balance while Robin coordinates from the sidelines. Eventually, through their combined efforts they manage to literally bring the roof down on Desmonds head, which not only defeats the monster, but also allows Superboy to see the Sky for the first time. It’s a great moment, but it’s cut short by the arrival of Superman, who’s quickly followed by the rest of the Justice League. In a scene I really like, Superman and Superboy stare at each other in silence for a long time, Superman realizing who and what Superboy is and unsure how to process it. Batman finally breaks the silence by demanding that Robin and the others explain what happened. Batman and the others are pissed at the young heroes for disobeying them, but Robin and the others refuse to stop. They know that they’ve done good work and they want to use what their mentors have taught them, otherwise, what was the point of teaching them at all.

Three days later, the team has now been set up as a type of Black-Ops team for the Justice League. Cadmus has proven that the bad guys are getting smarter, so they need a team who can operate from the shadows, and this team of five young heroes has been chosen for the task. That’s right, I said five, as the team is introduced to their fifth member, Martian Manhunter’s niece, Ms. Martian. As Ms. Martian playfully flirts with Superboy, Aqualad repeats the words from the previous episode: “Today is the Day.”

I have to say, this episode was a much more engaging outing than the first. The four heroes have great banter with each other and we actually see them working as a cohesive unit, a hopeful foreshadowing of things to come. I particularly liked Desmond’s monster form, particularly how the transformation process literally ripped open his skin, leaving part of his mangled face on his head, adding a more frightening and gruesome element to what otherwise would have been a very generic looking monster. With a premise, and well as a mysterious adversary in The Light well-established, Young Justice looks to be shaping up to be a great show.