Geek TV Review: Young Justice Season 3 Part 2

One of the biggest draws for me to the DC Universe streaming service was the return of Young Justice.  Season two famously ended on a cliffhanger.  Though it took a number of years, fans can now see how that story continued.

Well, the series concluded its third season, and a fourth season is on its way.  But before we speculate on what is to come, how did they series end its long-delayed third season?

Good news there:  it’s still great stuff.  Considering the series long storyarc mixed and matched the introduction of the Outsiders, Darkseid’s search for the Anti-Life Equation, and a famous New Titans storyarc, the fact that it mostly works is a testament to how good this show is.

And those are just some of the elements at play here.  Young Justice has always had a good number of Easter Eggs for DC fans.  For example, this season featured a Justice League squad battling the forces of Apokolips out in space.  Sharp-eyed DC fans will probably notice many of those Leaguers are from the Keith Giffen era of the team.  But that’s a rather minor subplot.  As always, it is the younger heroes who do the most to save the day here.

And those younger heroes gain some new faces.  Besides Geoforce, Halo, and Forager, we get a team led by Beast Boy, and the introduction of Cyborg.  Plus, the villainous Light continues to react unflappably regardless of whatever setbacks the Team gives them.  It makes the home viewer constantly wonder what the bad guys are really up to if nothing seems to disturb their long term plans.  That shows a confidence in both from the villains and from the series itself.

How confident is this show?  It used most of its penultimate episode to tell a personal story for some of the characters, taking a break from the action that normally would occupy the next to last episode for a season like this.  To be sure, the season ends with as much with some psychological truths for the characters as it does by punching out the baddies.  There’s a lot of promise for the future here, teasing for future character introductions.  But then the villains just moved some chess pieces around to continue whatever they’re up to.  The eventual defeat of the Light should be epic.

DC fans, particularly fans of the original run, will probably love this season.  It’s a bit more adult in what’s going on, but that’s fine.  The season ends strongly with interesting plots going forward and resolution for many of the plots for the past season.  Wherever the series is going next, it is bound to be a thrilling ride.

Now, if only DC Universe didn’t release most of these episodes in the last batch at a rate of one per week.  I suspect that may have something to do with the huge mess that was DC first cutting the first season of Swamp Thing and then outright canceling it.   Still, in the era of streaming, especially when the first part of the season was dropping at a rate of three episodes a week, it sure is frustrating.  Just as the season starts to really get going, an individual episode ends and then I need to wait a week for another installment?  What is this?  Network television?  9.5 out of 10 moments ruined by Batman.