Hello, my name is Jeff Williams, you might know me better as the co-host of the Ikaricast, the podcast that also features fellow J1 Writer, Jeremias de Leon and the gaming podcast, Next-Gen podcast.
"The Beginning and the End : A review of Season 1's Finale and Season 2's Opening"
Reviewer: Jeff Williams
Editor: Jeremias de Leon
For my debut for Comic Book Clash, it will be a recap of a season finale and review of a season premiere. What show am I talking about? Well, it's none other than DC/WB's Young Justice animated series, created by Greg Weisman (of The Spectacular Spider-Man and Disney's Gargoyles fame) and Brandon Vetti (Director/Producer of various DC animated DTV movies) for Cartoon Network's DC Nation block.
First let's start off this article, by taking a look at last week's season finale titled "Auld Acquaintance".
Aired: Sat. April 21st, 2012
The Season 1 finale of the show, was directed by Michael Chang ("Superman vs. The Elite") and Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman, Justice League: Doom) and was written by the aforementioned creator, Greg Weisman.
It starts off where the previous episode, "Usual Suspects" ended. In which we find out that, not only the big baddie of "The Light", is none other than Vandal Savage. But throughout the whole season, the writers, Weisman and Vetti have been hinting that a mole was in the ranks of the fledging team, and that mole was none other than Red Arrow. As this past week's finale progressed in plot, we learned a lot that made this season finale, a great epilogue to the season.
Highlights:
- The Speedy "Red Arrow", we've been knowing throughout this whole season, was not the real Roy Harper, but another clone created by Cadmus.
- The way Vandal Savage and The Light were controlling the Justice League, was through Starro (which in this Universe, he's represented as biotech, instead of an alien parasite)
- There were romances that were confirmed/created, and that's all I'm going to say, cause in all honesty, does it really matter?
- Ending this season with Superman finally acknowledging and accepting his "son" Conner, was nice, and it was a long time coming. Plus, the cliffhanger ending in which, we were left to wonder what the main Justice League members were doing during that 16-hour long control that Savage had them under.
- Also, not only it was confirmed that the Real Roy Harper was still alive, but the overall appearance of his debut, ironically mirrored his mainstream counter-part, pre-NDCU.
Overall, season 1's finale of Young Justice was a great segue to hopefully, a superior second season.
Speaking of, here's my review on the season 2 premiere of Young Justice titled "New Year's Eve".
The episode was directed by Tim Divar (former Storyboard artist for Batman: Brave and the Bold, Hulk Vs., Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow & episode 2/season 5 of Teen Titans "Homecoming, pt. II") and was written by Greg Weisman, the creator of Young Justice (animated series).
Eve starts at where last season's finale ended. In which Robin and company were consulting with Batman, trying to figure out what happened during those 16-hours when they were under Vandal Savage's control.
-cut to-
The Sewers of Gotham City and we see a fight starting to place with both Conner and Clayface. It look as if Karlo "Clayface" had the upper hand, until Miss Martian came to his rescue. But that's were we start to see things unfold….
We not only find out that this season pulled a time-skip (5 years later to be exact), but we also are introduced to new members of the team and those team members are…..
- Robin (Tim Drake)
- Blue Beetle "Jaime Reyes" (MY BOI!)
- Lagoon Boy
- Beast Boy
- Wonder Girl "Cassandra Sandsmark"
- Batgirl "Barbara Gordon"
- Bumblebee (no relation to the Autobot of the same name)
- Vox "Malcom Duncan"
With these new additions to the team, we do "somewhat" learn throughout this episode, of what became of the original members of Young Jusitce.
- Former Robin "Dick Grayson" has become Nightwing and has the passed the mantle of the mentor of Robin to young Tim Drake.
- Zatana and Rocket are now members of the Justice League.
- Miss Martian and Conner are no longer a couple. Again, don't care just mentioning it for plot's sake.
- So far, we're left in the dark on the whereabouts of Red Arrow, nor any explanations of what happened to Artemis, Aqulalad "Kaldur" or Kid Flash "Wally West"
So, since I explained what the premise is (basically "new team, same CRAZY antics!"), what did I think of this season premiere?
For a season premiere, it was fun times to be had.
As with other shows (animated/live-action) pulling a time-skip and failing, I personally feel that Young Justice won't suffer the same fate.
The plot is still there, The wit/humor of the show (which I think is one of the show's strong suits) is there, The character development, while some being lost (for now…) is still there. In others words, if you were a fan of this show since Summer of 2010, then you'll feel right at home…
For newer fans of the show, as this season's plot progresses, would like the newer team, while being introduced to the "older" members. The new viewers won't feel like they're forced to like the newer and bigger roster.
Now, what is my final say on this season debut? I'm with the fans that were introduced to this show, 2 years ago. I love it!
Rating: 4.5/5
The only complaint that I can give this episode was, that it had a slow start. Therefore, I was worried that I would have lost interest in the episode. But thankfully, after the opening it really does pick up.
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