"Young Justice," Year Three

It's got to say something about the state of the US media that a third season of "Young Justice" happened.  This is a series so doggedly aimed at existing DC fans, with such high barriers to entry, that I often had trouble working out exactly what was going on - and I watched the first two seasons!  "Young Justice" was resurrected for Warners' new DC Universe streaming service, so they're surely aiming at the right audience, but how much of an audience is there for the show after such a long hiatus?

Still, there's something to be said for being plunged back into a universe that isn't going to wait around for the audience to get reacquainted.  The new season, dubbed "Outsiders," takes place two years after the previous episodes, and follows four of the original core cast: Dick/Nightwing (Jesse McCartney), Megan/Miss Martian (Danica McKellar), Conner/Superboy (Nolan North), and Artemis/Tigress (Stephanie Lemelin).  After an eventful mission, they spend much of the season helping along several younger heroes with newly emerging powers, including Brion/Geo-Force (Troy Baker), Violet/Halo (Zehra Fazal), Victor/Cyborg (Zeno Robinson), and Fred/Forager (Jason Spisak). Dozens and dozens of other DC characters are also in the mix.

I like how "Young Justice" now operates a lot like the later seasons of the animated "Justice League" did.  While there are ongoing storylines that focus on the main characters, each episode will also spotlight several other DC characters.  So in one episode, we might get a subplot about a covert mission headed up by Batman, and in another we get the backstory of the villain Vandal Savage and his followers.  The larger plot is often a challenge to track because there are a lot of moving parts to keep an eye on, and if you don't recognize certain characters from the DC comics, nobody is going to explain who they are.  There's a big exposition dump every few episodes just to keep everyone abreast of the bad guys' nefarious scheme as it's being uncovered. 

Raising the difficulty even further is that little stays static in the "Young Justice" universe, as made clear in an episode where several of the League members who are parents have a playdate with all their kids together.  Also, the "Young Justice" versions of certain characters are a lot closer to the comics continuity, and can be very different from what we've seen in other DC media. For instance, we're at a point in time where Terra and Cyborg are just being introduced, we're on our second iterations of Robin and Kid Flash, and Roy Harper is on friendly terms with both of his clones.  The big guns like Superman and Wonder Woman are around, but they only pop up now and then in a very limited fashion. Iit also helps if you are familiar with some of the current DC media - there's a parody segment in one episode that makes no sense unless you've seen "Teen Titans Go!" and know some of the history of the Doom Patrol.

I'm happy to report that none of the "Young Justice" gang has lost a step during the extended hiatus.  Everyone is back, with their original voice actors, the original show's creators Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti as showrunners, and the occasionally wonky, but mostly pretty solid animation from South Korea.  Dick, Megan, Conner, and Artemis have been allowed to grow up a bit more and relax, leaving the bulk of the personal dramatics to the new crop of teenage heroes. And boy, are there dramatics. All the best superhero soap opera tropes are here, from amnesia and tragic backstories to being mind-controlled by the bad guy.  The content's more adult though, with more graphic violence and darker themes. Human trafficking is big part of the story this year. 

I found the new characters pretty trite - Brion's the typical angry young hothead, and Violet's just the newest spin on the sheltered foreign girl, but they're allowed to grow and change quickly.  And it's a good sign that several of the characters I wasn't keen on in the early days of "Young Justice" are among my favorites now. While I may have missed a few references here and there, it wasn't hard to catch up on where everyone was, and the usual formula of superheroes going on missions and stopping the bad guys meant that individual episodes all remained very watchable, even if I wasn't familiar with the specific characters involved.  

I'd love to see "Young Justice" continue, as this universe is clearly not running out of stories to tell any time soon.  And I'd really like more time to work out a few of the remaining mysteries. Seriously, who is Snapper Carr again?        

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