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Stew’s Young Justice Retrospective: Season 1, Episodes 11-12
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Animation
Tuppanceware Party: A Young Justice Retrospective, S1 E11-12
Episode 11
Episode 11 kicks off with Superman and Martian Manhunter partnering together to take out The Terror Twins. Well, we actually just get the aftermath of their defeat of The Terror Twins because THAT’S NOT REALLY OUR PLOT…
Because we cut to the captured Terror Twins being held by the Justice League and not sent to prison yet. Superboy comes in dressed like the male half of the twins, and Megan follows. She shapeshifts into the female Terror Twin, whose name is… Tuppance? Really?
Batman sends Conner and Megan on a mission together because I guess The World’s Greatest Detective can’t figure out the sexual tension between the two of them. Send the two horny teenagers on a mission inside a prison together, brilliant job, Detective!
Batman is FINALLY getting around to figuring out the ice-themed attacks from July 4th now that Icicle Jr and Mr. Freeze are getting transferred to Belle Reve, where the rest of the frost-themed villains went. Something is afoot, he has deduced!
We meet Amanda Waller at Belle Reve, and she immediately displays that the collars everyone is wearing can shock them and are custom designed to negate each inmate’s powers. But, ah! Superboy and Megan don’t have the Terror Twins’ powers! So even though, according to Batman, no one at Belle Reve knows they are undercover, they at least have access to their abilities.
Inside Belle Reve, Superboy befriends Icicle Jr, and Megan tries to get in with Killer Frost’s group. It turns out that Icicle Jr’s dad–uhhh… Icicle Sr, I guess, but that is a weird-ass name for a grown man–is the de facto leader of the prisoners.
Riddler wanders by to talk to Icicle, but he gets laughed off and called a joke. The big man’s gang humiliates him and send him away.
Junior wants to talk to his dad, but gets attacked by dad’s minions until Superboy jumps in to help him out. Icicle’s dad likes his moxie. He wants ice-based villains as part of his escape plan.
Conner and Megan head off to therapy with Hugo Strange, and Megan starts side-talking about how Superboy has a strained relationship with “dad”, i.e., Superman. Conner doesn’t love this!
Back in the general population, Icicle Jr is fawning over “Tuppance” to Conner, who doesn’t seem to care. Mr. Freeze and Icicle Sr fake a prison fight, with Freeze claiming he is out to become the new big boss of Belle Reve. Freeze is subdued by his shock collar and taken to Amanda Waller.
In Waller’s office, Mr. Freeze just fucking breaks out of his collar with his powers. It is never, ever explained how he does this (or why he frickin’ has powers! Mr. Freeze uses freeze rays!). Waller activates lockdown, but Freeze manages to disarm all of the collars.
It’s RIOT time in the prison! Megan blows her villainous cover to save a guard’s life, and as she is broadcasting via telepathy to Superboy for help, she suddenly goes silent!
Waller and her staff are locked up in cells, with Strange convincing the villains that Waller is worth more alive than dead.
Then we get… something. Freeze, Icicle, and Captain Cold all shoot ice out of their hands at a wall to make it brittle so the heavies can hammer their way through it. Again: Captain Cold and Mr. Freeze don’t do this! They have tech! What is happening?!
A throwaway line like “Ah, good thing our ice-power-giver ray worked on Fries and Snart. Belle Reve had no idea they now had cold-based powers for their collars” would have been SO NICE. Or, as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s version of Victor might say, “It would have been… N-Ice!”
Arnold is pretty great in that movie and no one wants to admit it.
Conner lies to Icicle Jr about the collars turning back on and how they have to go stop it from happening. Superboy goes into security and actually turns them all back on (though Icicle and a few others already removed theirs, so Junior doesn’t realize he was tricked).
Mr. Freeze and Icicle’s heavies figure out something is going on, and they rush off to meet Conner and Junior. Conner tricks Junior into thinking Freeze really IS after his dad’s spot, so they fight off the minions. After doing so, Superboy busts into the women’s wing, where M’Gann is frozen in a giant wall of ice.
I… guess that Megan uses her TK to free herself? Nothing else makes sense, though she was seemingly unconscious. Unless this is the first example of Superboy having his tactile telekinesis from the comics? Who knows? This episode is incredibly light on explaining literally anything it doesn’t want to. Megan and Superboy start kissing, and she reverts to her normal self, devastating Junior who realizes his dad is going to be furious at him.
We wrap up with Hugo Strange being named the new warden of Belle Reve because, AGAIN I can only guess, Riddler actually did manage to escape during all of the mayhem, so the higher-ups are mad at Waller? Does the episode offer an actual explanation, though? Of course not. Hugo notes that The Light are pleased because NOTHING our heroes have done this season has actually mattered.
Episode 12
We get a flashback early in Episode 12 to confirm that Artemis and Cheshire are sisters. Did we know that yet? Or was it just obvious? I feel like I knew it, but not because the show told me.
Anyway, a young Artemis sees her sister getting ready to run away from home. Artemis begs her to stay and keep the family together, but the will-be-Cheshire refuses, saying in their family, it’s every woman for themselves.
To the present now, Artemis is having her fiest day at Gotham Academy, and Dick Grayson recognizes her and snaps a selfie with the two of them. Barbara Gordon (yay!) asks Dick who she is, and he tells her she is a friend.
Is Babs Batgirl here? Hmmm.
Back at Mount Justice, Aqualad reports the mole situation to Red Tornado, who suggests Kaldur keep that shit to himself. He then heads off to the Watchtower for monitor duty. Kaldur questions this, saying he thought Tornado wasn’t given monitor duty anymore since he is their mentor, and Red responds that he is filling in for Green Arrow.
Yeah… I’m totally right about Red being the mole. Poor Tornado! He had better arcs in the comics. What about Traya?! That’s more interesting than a heel turn!
Robin and Artemis meet up in Gotham and teleport to Mount Justice, only to find it under attack! There are mystery fireballs and the escape tunnels are flooded.
Our heroes escape into the ventilation system, and we see some being shrouded in flames looking for them. Robin hacks the cave to keep the heat sensors and cameras from looking for them. They try to review the footage of the initial attack, but don’t see who did it; they remain off-camera.
In the library, we see the foes: two more Red Androids, just like Tornado and Mr. Twister from episode… whichever. Let’s say it was three. Anyway, the Reds take over the intercom system and give Robin and Artemis 10 minutes to surrender, or they will kill the other members of YJ.
Why… why ten minutes? That’s a very long amount of time. Why not, like, 30 seconds? Why not IMMEDIATELY? Why give them time to plot your defeat?
This happens ALL THE DAMN TIME in fiction, and it’s a trope I do not understand. What is the real life basis for villains doing the “I’ll give you [X-amount of time] to surrender, or…”? Just cut to the Or! I don’t get it! It’s not nuclear disarmament! Robin and Artemis don’t have labs to shut down safely!
Sigh. Another confusing trope.
Robin and Artemis survive a flood attack in the tunnel system and make it to the central room where they see Kaldur and Megan imprisoned in a flaming cage. Elsewhere, Wally and Conner and wrapped up in melted steel. Robin and Artemis peace out back to the tunnels, haha!
Artemis starts giving in to despair, but Robin insists they can handle this and save the others. They decide to make an EMP device to shut down the androids. Robin sets up the device after they put it together, but he gets defeated and captured, leaving Artemis alone… and on the verge of a panic attack.
She considers bailing and calling the Justice League–or at least just saving her own skin. But no! It’s her heroic journey time! She remembers Cheshire abandoning her and how much she hated that. She vows not to do the same!
She winds ups in Wally’s trophy room and finds the arrow she shot at Amazo to help them out. After a quick faux-surrender to the Reds, she shoots that last arrow at the EMP device, activating it and saving the day!
Red Tornado shows up, and he reports not knowing there were more red androids like himself. He goes to touch them, but one of them sends a shock through him, causing him to attack the kids. Artemis passes out from his wind tunnel. When she wakes up, the League is there helping the kids out… and all three androids are gone!
