This is the last recap we got before Young Justice: Outsiders goes on its midseason break. We’ve had highs and lows, ups and downs and an unhealthy amount of emotional devastation. So let’s see what the end of the first half of the series looks like?
Episode 10: Exceptional Human Beings
Dark Op at Santa Prisca
Our episodes with Oracle running as mission for Batman, Katana, and Metamorpho. They descend onto the current location of the League of Shadows and stealthy navigate their way into the juggle. The trio split up and survey the island.
Par the Course
Back in Detroit, Dr. Stone gets a call from Victor Stone, reminding his dad that he has a game tonight. Dr. Stone assures him he’ll attend, but he also hangs up immediately to talk to Steel about a Father Box. Steel warns Stone that the box is a full of evil, but Dr. Stone seems confident.
Metamorpho and Katanna continue working their way into the depths of the island, giving Metamorpho plenty of opportunity to show off his elemental skill set.
Meanwhile, Connor and M’gann… what was the phrase used last episode? “Mend fences?” Yeah, they mend fences although M’gann mentions that Connor was supposed to helping Dick. Flash to Dick training with the new Outsiders in an aggressive game of tag. After Halo falls, she and Prince Brion share some doe-eyed stares and Nightwing quips. Observing from a far, Black Lightning and Dr. Jace discuss the semantic difference between “my kids” and “our kids.”
Switch back to Santa Prisca, Lady Shiva is training the next generation of the League of Shadows. Katana and Metamorpho get some intel from Oracle but an incoming helicopter redirects Lady Shiva and one recruit to a new installation, and Batman takes over surveillance.
Nightwing’s training exercise gets interrupted by Prince Brion demanding a news update about Tera, and Nightwing calmly asserts that someone is taking care of it although he fails to mention that Batman is on site observing Deathstroke, Lady Shiva, and Cassandra Savage. Cassandra misses her roommate “Markov” and Deathstroke notes that she’s out of the program, but he thinks that “Granny” has plans. Cassandra exits, while Deathstroke and Lady Shiva discuss workplace sexism. Well. Lady Shiva calls Deathstroke out on his workplace sexism.
At your stereotypical high school locker room, Victor Stone is entirely unimpressed with locker room talk as he gets into uniform.
Extraction
With the intel acquired, Oracle directs Batman and his team to a boat to make a covert exit, although Bane quickly spots the Dark Knight and casually strolls down to meet him. Bane begins joyfully explaining how no one has ever entered or exited Santa Prisca to which Batman just starts calmly listing every superhero who did so without breaking a goddamn sweat.
At Star City, Artemis helps Violet register for high school while Will Harper makes a quick exit to have a heart to heart with his ex. Cheshire a.k.a. is really trying to avoid domestic life though, and leaves in tears.
Back at the Dark Op at Santa Prisca, Batman fights Bane while Katana and Lady Shiva pair off to duel like honorable swordswoman and Metamorpho and Deathstroke go toe to toe. Lots of good moments here y’all. My words couldn’t do it justice. All you need to know is that with an assist from Oracle, the team makes their smooth exit from Santa Prisca with a *chef’s kiss.*
To close out the episode, Victor Stone celebrates his team’s victory with a signature “BOOYAH!” while lamenting that his father is working over-over-overtime as the Father Box hums very ominously.
Episode 11: Another Freak
Not So Typical High School Woes
In Detroit, Victor Stone confronts his father about missing the latest game because of work – again. Dr. Stone is distracted by the Father Box, and as the argument escalates into Victor being “boy”-ed and an faulty electrical wire causes the Anti-Meta Failsafe to explode…
At Happy Harbor, Prince Brion gets called out for constantly being on his telephonic device by Forager. Artemis provides Forager a Glamor Charm, and he takes on the identity of Fred Bugg (with two G’s). Violet and Freg Bugg (with two G’s) get warned about boys who only want one thing before getting a ride from Lucas and M’gann.
Meanwhile, the explosion at Star Labs has resulted with Victor Stone buried underneath rubble and sustaining serious injuries (mind you, this is the second time we’ve this horrific of a wound and the second time we’ve seen a person of color sustain it and it’s getting old real fast). Dr. Stone follows the origin story to the letter and plants the Father Box onto Victor and the ominous hums is followed by the creation of a weird metal cocoon thing.
New Kids on the Block
Violet and Fred Bugg (with two G’s) get introduced to their class, but none of the students seem particularly recepetive. However, one Harper Row (WOW, yet another deep cut) manages to make friends with the two. Everyone’s a little bit nervous, but Violet has physical symptoms.
Dr. Stone continues to monitor the metal cocoon, and the Father Box goes to work with the Cyborg-ification process. It looks painful y’all, but Victor is at least alive.
Back at Mars Town, Connor goes to test out a customer’s bike and Brion tries very poorly to hack into Nightwing’s computer to get more information about Santa Prisca, the League of Shadows, and Tera Markov. Nightwing drops in and finally gives Brion an update, but Brion isn’t exactly happy being told to be patient and the two get into a scuffle. Nightwing eventually figures out that Brion is just dealing with a lot of loss and plays the role of a warrior therapist.
A New Genesis
Victor emerges from the metal cocoon as Cyborg in Detriot, while Violet still feels strange in Happy Harbor with Fred Bugg (with two G’s) feeling like freaks. Thankfully, Harper Row gives the pair confidence to be themselves.
Victor comes to his senses but is understandably upset about his new robotic half and his eye turns purple and he begins crushing folks, including/especially his father. Elsewhere, Harper goes to history and lets Fred Bugg that the “with two G’s” is optional, but before Fred can go to English, he finds Violet still feeling weird and manifesting a new aura: indigo… which creates boom tubes?
And in an extraordinarily crafted move of narrative convergence, Violet finds herself at Star Labs with a raging Victor. At Star Labs, Violet plays some defense before eventually “cleansing” Victor of his purple aura and returning it to its less murderous red state. As Violet starts to leave after doing what she’s supposed to do, Victor wants to go with Violet since he needs distance from his father given the last few hours. Dr. Stone tries to persuade his son to stay, but Victor makes his exit. He is greeted by Fred Bugg and M’gann and walks out to the football field, meditating on his circumstances.
The episode closes with Brion and Nightwing sharing a peaceful moment on the beach…
Episode 12: Nightmare Monkeys
Glamorous Lives
Beast Boy’s on set of Space Trek: 3016. Turns out he’s working with his godfather, a William Shatner-esque character who really nails the cadence, and Granny Goodness, and yes all of your alarms in your head should be ringing. Also apparently, Garfield’s been taking in by Mento and the guardianship is rocky.
The rest of team gets updated on the atypical day of Violet, Fred Bugg, and Victor Stone. Dr. Jace and Superboy eventually piece together that Violet Harper is actually a reincarnated Mother Box that has supplanted itself with Gabrielle Daou’s body and brain, which leads to a lot of questions both in-universe and out-of-universe, but that probably deserves more inspection than I can give in a recap. The evidence continues to mount that Violet is a living Mother Box and Victor doesn’t really care for the talk of Mother and Father Boxes, at which point Sphere rolls up and a brief skirmish happens. Violet cleanses Cyborg for a second time. To which, Connor and M’gann realize they’re probably adopting another stray.
Oh, and when that was happening: Beast Boy is chilling while waiting for Queen Perdita to finish up when a set of Goode Goggles piqued his interest and sticks a needle into his head…
Oh. Oh God.
Queen Perdita’s ready to leave, but Garfield pulls the “one more level” line before the HUD tells him to go to Encino. He black outs and Beast Boy finds himself on the Space Trek’s main deck with the ghosts of Wally, Blue Beatle I, Jason Todd, Aqua Girl.
Alien invaders board the ship and begin wrecking shop, forcing Beast Boy to confront the death of his comrades, including a heartbreaking review of Wally West’s death. A monkey distracts Garfield and the channel switches to Doom Patrol Go!. And… oh. Oh god. This is happening
They got the original Teen Titans cast back together to gives us Beast Boy’s origin story in the form of a Teen Tians Go! parody bit and musical number, and I am honestly at a loss for words for this segment’s madness and brilliance. The levels of psychological $%@&-ery is actually staggering. Thankfully Monkey intervenes and changes the channel yet again, this time to… Hello Megan…
In the real world, Connor and M’gann intercept the paramedics and M’gann goes to intervene with the psychic fugue state.
We see a pre-Beast Boy in the old sitcom, as the channel flickers and falters as a comedic laugh track sounds off at incredibly inappropriate times and we see Gar’s perspective of the day his mother died before fading to black. Y’all, I’m all up in my feelings today.
In the infinite void, Monkey talks to Beast Boy and Monkey reveals that Beast Boy’s power was aided by the Martian blood transfusion, but Monkey God (voiced by Wally West) indicates that his powers are slightly more magical in nature, but the heroics were all on him. Garfield reconciles why he went into acting and the amount of death he was surrounded why, before returning to the real world. Beast Boy hints at Granny Goodness’ evil foil, but saves the debrief for later.
The episodes ends with three sets of kisses: Beast Boy and Queen Perdita, Connor and M’gann, and… Prince Brion and Violet.
Episode 13: True Heroes
A Not-So-Happy Halloween
Our final episodes end on Halloween at Happy Harbor. Brion, Violet, Forager, and Victor are excited for the dance. Well, maybe not Victor. He’s still adjusting to his new “alien metal freak” ness. However, Nightwing shows up with a last-minute mission to finally rescue Tera. Brion burns off his makeup, and Violet wants to go, but she has to still around to cleanse Victor if the need arises.
On Bio-Ship, Nightwing lays out how all the pieces from the last couple episodes fit together. Granny Goodness using the Goode Goggles to test for the Metagene and brainwash those who test positive to a depot around the globe. Ms. Martian made sure that the Outsiders got the Bialyan gig because Batman’s intel noted that Tera had been handed off to Granny Goodness after she killed a developer for the Goggles, which led to a manifest with a description that matched Tera perfectly.
Back at the house, Violet’s feeling all of the emotions being so far away from Brion. Dr. Jace tries to calm her down and plays the parent, talking about all the difficult parts of that particular age. Victor tries to space out when Dr. Jace starts about teen hormones, but the Father Box perks out when it realizes that Violet is vulnerable.
International Incidents
The Outsiders approach Greater Bialya and scope out the joint. Lots of buyers in masks and metahuman security in the form of a team called Onslaught. As the bug continues to survey the lay of the land, the announcer reveals that this isn’t just an auction, it’s a demonstration via Fight Club as we see Holocaust (shout out to Milestone) and Tera enter the arena. Geo-Force is ready to go, but Nightwing has a slightly less aggressive approach.
Back at the house, Father Box Purple Victor makes his moves and when Violet tries to turn indigo, it turns out her human emotions are interfering with her auras…
The Metahuman Fight Club sees Tera take an beating from Holocaust, while the Outsiders infiltrate the building in style.
Brion makes to keep himself composed enough not to be spotted by Simon, and the crew makes a bid for Terra and drive off into the night. Brion and Tera are finally reunited at last, but the mission is far from over.
Violet is still being hunted by Victor and the house is getting destroyed in the process. The music ramps, the fear is rising, and Victor manages to wrestle control for long enough for Violet to regain her composure and perform a permanent cleanse.
An Explosive End
The season started with the destruction of one metahuman trafficking ring, so it’s only appropriate for the midseason finale to do the same. The Outsiders descend to the ground and take care of business, while Forager provides tactical support from the air. Tera eventually convinces Brion to help, and with the full might of the team, the depot is shut down.
The Outsiders return home. Victor gladly reports that he’s cured. Tera is introduced to Violet a.k.a. Brion’s girlfriend, and the rest of the captives have been placed at the Metahuman Support Center. Everything’s fine and happy.
Wait. Why is ominous music playing as Terra wakes up? Who she’s texting? Oh god. No. No no no. NO. None of that bodes well.
We Have to Wait How Long?
Young Justice: Outsiders was not perfect, but it was a damn fine 13 episodes. There are hiccups here and there aside, the new cast and take on the DC Universe feels incredibly fresh while still playing by familiar rules. It has been an honor to recount the first part of this wonderful season with y’all.
So tell me, are you feeling the aster? Because I certainly am.
Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here!
Are you following Black Nerd Problems on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or Google+?
Show Comments