Young Justice: “Terrors” Review
Superboy and Miss Martian go undercover in Belle Reeve.
SE 1: Episode 11 “Terrors”
Young Justice continues its new season with ”Terrors.” This one goes back to the fist YJ episode, when the heroes fought four different ice villains. Looking into that, Batman sends Miss Martian and Superboy to Belle Reeve undercover as two new villains, the Terror Twins. The real Twins are subdued by the somewhat overpowering team of Superman and Martian Manhunter.
At Belle Reeve, we get to see Amanda Waller, and the prison psychiatrist, Hugo Strange. Oddly, among the villain cameos is the Riddler, fitted with a power damping collar. Why he’d be in Belle Reeve, or have a collar, I don’t quite get. That to one side, it becomes a prison movie, with the prisoner in charge being the senior Icicle, who apparently plans a mass breakout.
There’s a disturbingly amusing scene of Superboy, in disguise still, getting what’s actually good advice from Icicle II. The breakout starts, and chaos ensues. Another great scene is Waller being confronted by Mr. Freeze and still refusing to back down (thankfully, it’s the pre-nU Waller, not the new sexy model). The pretty much expected scene of the ultra-nice Miss Martian not being able to stay in character occurs when a guard is threatened, but it works.
Superboy manages to get the power-negating collars reactivated, and then actually shows some brains in manipulating the villains against each other. Superboy and Miss Martian end up finally admitting their feelings and making out for a bit. Amusingly, after being treated like the class geek and bullied by everyone, Riddler alone manages to escape. The end scene shows that, as I suspected, Hugo Strange was indeed working with the villains. Apparently, the breakout itself was a diversion, and whatever the “goals” were, Strange and Icicle say they were met.
What I liked and what I didn’t:
This was another episode that showed that Young Justice is part of the larger DCU. There were cameos by several League members, as well as lots of villains. I liked that they used many lesser known villains throughout these sequences, like Brick from Green Arrow, as well as bringing back the show’s version of Blockbuster. The interaction between Superboy and Miss Martian, as well as the scenes that spoke to both their cover identities and their real selves were done well. And I love that much put down Riddler got away.
My only complaint is that when you focus in that narrowly, everyone else gets left out. Aqualad had a few brief cameos, and that was it for the team. It’s a bit odd seeing Batman without Robin on a show about a team Robin’s a member of, but I get why they did it.
This show continues to be great fun, make a few changes that make sense (unlike much of the DC-nU), and show the heroes learning their way just fine.
A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATING
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| great cameos and guest stars, well written, nice action scenes” cons= | None |
| Rating |
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2 Comments
I am Loving the HELL out of this show!
I’ve been waiting for a show that makes it clear just how far the writers have planned everything out in advance (kinda like a comic book arc) . . . . . .and the fact that they went back and actually discussed the reasons for the simultaneous ice attacks in the pilot was BRILLIANT!
Also brilliant: This is the umpteenth time that despite seemingly getting their butts whooped, the villains involved all seem to get “exactly what they wanted” out of the affair . . . . . . those are some smart, patient villains who start each plan with a “statistically, we’re probably gonna lose this one, so what do we do?” level thinking, which is also deeply appreciated . . . . . . And as so many prime time dramas have taught us, its good to keep the audience guessing . . . . .
And speculating! I think Edward Nigma is actually a good guy, and working undercover for Batman (mirroring his reformation in the comics). That explains why he may have been at Belle Reeve, why he was trying so hard to get close to the big dogs running the show . . . . . AND why he was the only one to get away. Also, the collar wasn’t just a power dampner, it was also a shackle with which they tracked and subdues all the prisoners.
BUT if this is true, then it means that Batman basically sent 2 different teams to see what was going on, proving that he is starting to suspect a larger game at play. . . . . needless to say, i’m loving every minute of this! :-)
I dig the show but this is my least fav episode mainly cus it was about my least fav characters. In fact my most hated characters. Solid review