Movies / Animé and Toons

Young Justice Season 2 Episode 16 Some Resolutions

By Hervé St-Louis
February 16, 2013 - 14:32

Black Manta gives Miss Martian 24 hours to restore Aqualad’s mind, however, Sportsmaster and Cheshire infiltrate the villain’s sub seeking revenge on both father and son for the murder of Artemis. In this incredible mêlée, who will survive and who will die?

I liked that many issues were resolved in this episode but am not happy with how it turned out. It felt a bit too clean. I think that the subplot about Aqualad’s mind could have taken longer to be restored while Miss Martian’s capture could have lasted longer. Also, the various changes of allegiances with Sportsmaster, Cheshire, Aqualad, Artemis and Miss Martian was way too neat. Meanwhile, Blue Beetle’s treachery of the Justice League was too convenient and Nightwing should have seen it coming.

Nightwing, I have to say, has been incompetent this season and does not deserve to be Young Justice’s leader. He has put his team in danger many times and failed to anticipate the many moves by the villains and The Reach. Nightwing is responsible for Aqualad’s infiltration of the Light, the fake death of Artemis and Miss Martian’s mind wipe of Aqualad as well as her capture by Deathstroke. Nightwing has not been on many missions this season, staying behind. Even the new Guardian who had the job of monitoring villain activity and dispatching the team on mission, is taking part on tough adventures, like last episode’s. This is one thing that truly differentiates Nightwing from Batman. Batman participates in his team’s missions and often is the one to solve problems. Nightwing just stays behind and makes decisions with dire consequences. If there were a season three, I’d like to see Nightwing take a break from leadership and find himself again because I’m not impressed with him.

Miss Martian is finally useful for something other than self-doubt. She is a character that I really liked in the first season as she played on the Hello Meagan identity. This season, she seems to have grown a lot and become better at using her powers in battle and even leading her team. Although she still had some self-doubts and even made some reckless decisions by attacking Aqualad’s mind earlier this season, I think she would be a great leader for season three.

Now, Aqualad, the original leader of Young Justice is restored and surprisingly held no grudge against Miss Martian and continued his undercover work as if nothing had happened. I find that very surprising and he’s either the best leader and most focused character on the show, or he’s just waiting for the right moment to crack and betray his friends. I’d like to see him deal with the death of his girlfriend Tuula, but who knows if that will ever happen? He’s really one of the best characters of this show.

I liked to see the different motivations of Cheshire and Sportsmaster. Cheshire continues to border the edge of good and evil, but I wouldn’t like to see her become too good, not even Catwoman good. I still want her to be a villain. Yet, I’m glad to see that she really cared for her sister, unlike Sportsmaster who only cared about his reputation. Now Sportsmaster really did not fare well against Deathstroke and Black Manta. He easily best Artemis, but that’s normal. He showed her his moves. I find it odd that he never noticed some of the fighting techniques that she used as Tigress until she made it a point to let him see a move he’d recognize. Perhaps that’s why Deathstroke is a much better enforcer.

The villains were the ones being played in this episode. Black Manta believed that his son was back to his side and Deathstroke failed to discover Artemis’s treachery. The Ambassador of The Reach was on the Light's screen which is not good. It makes me wonder how the Light will betray The Reach as many fans anticipate for the season’s finale.  It was a good episode to watch, given all the resolutions that was promised. However, it was too neat and in hindsight, this will not be remembered as one of the best episode of this season or of the entire series.

Rating: 7.5 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12