June 9, 2023

Gabbing Geek

Your online community for all things geeky.

Going Through Young Justice Part Five

Jimmy and Tom chat a bit about the Young Justice episodes "Bereft" and "Targets".

Hey, kids!  Jimmy and Tom finished up discussing two more episodes of Young Justice!  That means another post of their thoughts for all the Internet to theoretically enjoy!

Anyway, this time around the chat focuses on the episodes “Bereft” and “Targets”.

“Bereft”

The Team finds themselves scattered across a desert…and unable to remember the last six months!

jimmy:  So is freaky brain exposed guy from the comics?

tomk:  Psimon?  Oh yeah. Another Titans foe.

jimmy:  His brain is gonna get all sunburned out in the desert if he’s not careful.

tomk:  Yes. That’s the problem with that character.

jimmy:  Cancer from the sun is a serious issue, Tom!

tomk:  Being evil is cancer to the soul, Jimmy.

Regardless, Psimon, who in the comics does say “Psimon says” a lot, is one of the founding members of the Fearsome Five, a group that includes Mammoth and Shimmer, that brother/sister pair we saw back in the Bane episode.

jimmy:  Sounds like they might be building to something…

tomk:  Yes. They’re building a bridge to the 22nd century that you get in on the ground floor for only $14.95.

jimmy:  I’d be a fool not to at that price!

tomk:  And that’s in Canadian dollars.

jimmy:  Very reasonable!

tomk:  Too bad it’s for evil.

jimmy:  Meh.  At those prices…

tomk:  Why do you think the prices are so low?  To entice the greedy and the gullible.

jimmy:  That’s me!

tomk:  In that case, what will you give me for this deed to the Brooklyn Bridge?

jimmy:  How about 1 shiny Loonie?

tomk:  Make it two and you have a deal.  You can even put up a toll booth.

One can even be a little dull.

jimmy:  Done and done.

tomk:  Thanks.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to trade in these two Loonies I just got to buy something that just popped out of a Boom Tube.

jimmy:  I did like the mystery of this episode.  With the memory loss.

tomk:  Yes. Apparently, M’gann has been in Earth less than six months. Artemis has been a hero in less time, and Superboy…

jimmy:  He didn’t exist.

tomk:  Maybe in a test tube.

jimmy:  Maybe. Either way, it made him very angry.

tomk:  Right. Because the only thing stopping a rampaging clone is having a backstory.

jimmy:  Getting his memory back seemed to help.

tomk:  Yes. Then he only punched who he was supposed to punch.

jimmy:  That helps.

tomk:  It also helps that Dick and Wally have known each other longer than six months.

jimmy:  Yes. Though Wally’s suit is younger than that.

tomk:  Wally can’t stop playing with it. And Dick makes the “whelmed” comment again.

jimmy:  It’s a perfectly cromulant comment.

tomk:  You would be whelmed enough to say so.

jimmy:  Luckily they remembered Aqualad before he shriveled up in the desert.

tomk:  That’s usually a good thing. Also, amazing how Wally feels about Artemis when he has no idea who she is.

jimmy:  She’s a cute girl and he’s Wally.

tomk:  And she has no idea why she is dressed like that but thinks her father wants someone dead.

Nothing ominous about that.

jimmy:  Nope. Nothing at all.

tomk:  Also amazing she sees through Wally’s stunts before she remembers her whole deal.

jimmy:  Wally’s not exactly subtle. See flashback to the “hot cookie” exchange.

tomk:  If it ain’t science, Wally doesn’t really think that far ahead.

It’s like he’s too fast to slow down and wait for things, like a girl to show interest or a cookie to cool off.

jimmy:  At least he has a color change suit to distract him.

tomk:  Still.

jimmy:  At least Artemis’ father doesn’t want him dead. Maybe.

tomk:  Might depend on who her father is.

jimmy:  Yeah, that wasn’t any subtle foreshadowing now was it?

tomk:  Oh there was nothing subtle about that.

jimmy:  I like that the show appears to have put some thought into all of this.

tomk:  Yeah.  None of that make-it-up-as-we-go-along stuff like Game of Thrones.

jimmy:  GOT wasn’t too bad like that. Lost would be a better example.

tomk:  I was being silly.  If I wanted a serious example, I would say The X-Files.

jimmy:  Also a good one.

tomk:  This show doesn’t do that.  There’s a plan.

jimmy:  As there should be. But sometimes shows just continue on and on well past any plan.

tomk:  Well, this show isn’t done yet, so who knows?  At the least, there is a plan for this season.

jimmy:  Or it’s a documentary. They do have very specific dates on each show.

tomk:  Well, that Bialya place sure does seem to appear on the news frequently.

Plus, it sounds like Counselor Troi is a member of the Light.

jimmy:  She might be more useful there than on TNG.

tomk:  That’s accurate but harsh.

jimmy:  We’re not known to pull any punches around here.

tomk:  Like Superboy on the astral plain when M’gann needs help kicking astral ass.

jimmy:  Though in this case they needed him to start pulling punches, since he was out of control.

tomk:  Eh, Psimon deserved it.

jimmy:  Well, yes.  Once Supes got his memory back.

tomk:  People with visible brains that aren’t caused by serious injuries do tend to be jerks.

jimmy:  Are there others?

tomk:  There was one on The Tick cartoon.

jimmy:  That was the one I thought of too.

tomk:  Besides, Brainiac knew how to handle Psimon.

jimmy:  Don’t flaunt your brain in front of Brainiac.

tomk:  Or Superboy apparently.

jimmy:  Apparently.

tomk:  Superboy might have other problems he can’t punch out.

jimmy:  Maybe he can solve his problems with a chainsaw.

tomk:  Well, his problems might be…going to high school.

jimmy:  Join the club.

tomk:  You go to high school?

jimmy:  No.  But when I did…

tomk:  You had a chainsaw?

jimmy:  I wish…

tomk:  Curious about Superboy in high school now?

jimmy:  I can’t see that ending well, but let’s find out.

tomk:  And along the way, perhaps we can check in on some familiar faces we haven’t seen on the show yet.

jimmy:  Now I’m interested.

tomk:  Good. Red Arrow spotted something disturbing.

“Targets”

Red Arrow asks for help on a mission while Superboy and M’gann start high school.

jimmy:  Lex Luthor can’t be trusted?  Now there is a shocking development!

tomk:  He’s in league with Ra’s al~Ghul!

jimmy:  Shocking!

tomk:  After Ra’s seemed to be trying to kill Lex…

jimmy:  Man, if you can’t trust those guys, who can you trust?

tomk:  Santa?

jimmy:  Guy who breaks into your house and steals baked goods?

tomk:  Don’t make me pull up that Adam West Batman clip again.

jimmy:  Ok, ok.

tomk:  You can have this one instead.

jimmy: Haha

tomk:  So, we got a Luthor sighting.

jimmy:  And a Ra’s sighting.

tomk:  And a Snapper Carr sighting.

jimmy:  This one had it all!

tomk:  Pretty much everyone at that high school is an established DC character.

jimmy:  Oh?

tomk:  Sure.

Mal Duncan:

His girlfriend Karen:

Wendy and Marvin:

And Snapper was their teacher.

jimmy:  Well…none of them seem familiar.

tomk:  To be fair, the last two were on Superfriends. Their DC debut went…poorly.

But Mal and Karen were both on the Titans.

jimmy:  I don’t remember them at all. Though I was never a big Titans reader.

tomk:  I’d say more about them but it might ruin future episodes.

jimmy:  Yeah, I didn’t figure they were just used there at random.

tomk:  Some may have been. Those may be just simple Easter Eggs.

jimmy:  I can see the Superfriends one being Easter eggs.

tomk:  Just hope it goes better for Marvin here than it did in the comics where he and Wendy were the Titans’ tech support and Wonder Dog turned out to be a disguised monster from Apokalips that ate Marvin.

jimmy:  That’s…unfortunate.

tomk:  That’s Geoff Johns. Watson may be right sometimes.

jimmy:  I won’t tell if you won’t.

tomk:  He might read th…I can’t even finish that sentence.

jimmy:  Haha. I’d say the world is full of Watsons if that’s the criteria.

tomk: His mom says he’s cool.

jimmy:  Mm hmm.

tomk:  Not cool?  Sportsmaster is still hanging around.

jimmy:  Gotta be one of the worst villain names ever.

tomk:  Worse than Mr. Banjo?

jimmy:  Ok, not that bad.

tomk:  What about Paste Pot Pete?

jimmy:  At least he wised up and changed his name.

tomk:  What about his look?

jimmy:  Upgraded as well.

tomk:  Yes, the Trapster doesn’t sound any dumber.

jimmy:  They can’t all be gems.

tomk:  Gems tend to be truly outrageous.

jimmy:  Judges?

tomk:  The judges are tough but fair.

jimmy:  So, you pay more attention to this stuff. Where were the two main stories taking place?  Because it was night in one place and the start of the school day in another.

tomk:  Looks like Red Arrow and Aqualad were somewhere in some fictional Asian countries on the other side of the world.

jimmy:  Ok, that makes sense then.

tomk:  Also makes sense that no one thought to get Conner a change of clothes.

jimmy:  These super types usually stick to the one outfit.

tomk:  Not M’gann from the looks of things.

jimmy:  It’s a bit easier to mix things up as a shapeshifter.

tomk:  Does that mean she really goes everywhere naked?

jimmy:  Technically?  Probably yes

tomk:  Does Wally realize that?

jimmy:  Probably not.

tomk:  Well, Wally wasn’t in this episode. No dealing with Conner’s angry glares for him.

jimmy:  Conner’s oblivious to all thing M’gann.

tomk:  That’s why he almost attacked the Bumblebees, right?

jimmy:

tomk:  The cheerleaders called themselves the Bumblebees.

jimmy:  Everyone loves cheerleaders.  Just another sign Conner has a long way to go.

tomk:  Maybe he wants to ask one out.

jimmy:  I don’t think he’s studied that yet.

tomk:  You don’t think he has throbbing biological urges?

jimmy:  It doesn’t seem like it, but thanks for the awkward wordplay.

tomk:  Credit Troy McClure. You might remember him from such awkward educational filmstrips like Conjunctions Are Our Friends and Martians Won’t Eat Your Brain Unless You Let Them.

jimmy:  I miss Phil Hartman.

tomk:  He also misses you.

jimmy:  He was Canadian.  We’re like that.

tomk:  But not everyone is Canadian. Take the actor playing Ra’s. He was also Dr Fate on JLU.

jimmy:  Range.

tomk:  Also, Cheshire knows Sportsmaster.

jimmy:  They’re friends from work.

tomk: And Conner took a last name from Kent Nelson because J’onn was kinda dumb.

jimmy:  That was more M’gann’s fault.

tomk:  J’onn suggested “Kent” without thinking from the looks of things.

jimmy:  Maybe from a “these kids don’t know Superman’s secret identity” perspective.

tomk:  So what happens if Conner finds out?

jimmy:  Supes’s identity?

tomk:  Yes.

jimmy:  I don’t know that it would make any difference.

tomk:  What happens if Roy finds the mole?

jimmy:  We get ready for season 2. 🙂

tomk:  The Light sure is a tricky bunch.

jimmy:  Though not big on picking out names.

tomk:  What if everyone is the mole?

jimmy:  If everyone is the mole, then no one is the mole.

tomk:  Exactly!  Have a cookie

jimmy:

tomk:  Cookies make the ultimate distraction for a mole.

I mean, did you realize Cheshire is voiced by Kelly Hu, Lady Deathstrike from X-Men 2?

jimmy:  I DID…not.

tomk:  Too many cookies lying around. You were distracted.

jimmy:  I wouldn’t recognize her anyway.

tomk:  All those lines she had in that X-Men movie and you didn’t recognize her voice?

jimmy:  I don’t even remember the movie.

tomk:  I thought you were in it.

jimmy:  They’re all a blur to me now.

tomk:  Her character doesn’t speak.

jimmy:  Probably why I didn’t recognize her.

tomk:  She also voices Artemis’s mother.

Still, some really bad people are up to something.

jimmy:  That’s usually how these superhero shows work.

tomk:  Perhaps. But this scheme may go deeper than you know.

jimmy:  Or deeper than you know.

tomk:  How long have you and the Moose been on the Light’s inner council?

jimmy:  I can’t talk about that.

tomk:  That’s ok. I already know.

jimmy:  Yes.  Yes you do.

tomk:  Jimmy, didn’t you see Cousin Minka chatting with the Moose last week?  He can’t keep a secret.

jimmy:  But you know who can keep a secret?  Whoever the mole is.

tomk:  Yes. But the Light might have some pretty deep plans. Are you interested in more clues, maybe see another villain voiced by a JLU hero actor?

jimmy:  Sure.

tomk:  Then we may need to go undercover…in a prison!

Next:  Tom and Jimmy will be back soon, talking about the episodes “Terrors” and “Homefront”.

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