Young Justice: Outsiders returns with three new episodes

Young Justice: Outsiders brings back a fan-favorite show from DC that gives us a look at a wide array of heroes coming together for the greater good.

One of the nice things about the first episode of Young Justice: Outsiders is the fact that you don’t really need to know every detail from the previous seasons to understand what’s going on. The Justice League is dealing with some tension within the group while many are left in the dark as others resign and go off to form their own group.

Not only have members resigned, but Nightwing is off on his own with a little help from Oracle, aka Barbara Gordon. He recruits a few other members to take down the meta-human trafficking ring, but we don’t see that mission come to fruition in the first episode.

What the first episode does bring in addition to the Justice League splitting up is a new look at the young leaguers who have done some growing up. Conner Kent is living with M’gann and proposes to her. They aren’t the only heroes in a relationship, but this is a big step for them. The first episode does a great job of picking up the story.

“Royal We” continues the focus on meta-human trafficking with a PSA from Beast Boy. The show doesn’t shy away from politics either. We see Lex Luthor as the U.N. Secretary General and there’s a big debate over whether or not the disavowed members of the Justice League are heroes or vigilantes.

Artemis (also going by Tigress) and Nightwing kick off their mission by going undercover to look into the Markov’s guests at an event after their parent’s death. Simon Ecks is a promising suspect since he works at a children’s hospital that could easily be a front for the trafficking.

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While they stake out the event, Black Lightning and Superboy break into the hospital. They find a secret room off of the morgue, but get caught snooping around.  Artemis finds a group of men trying to bury a girl alive and is able to save her. Black Lightning and Superboy aren’t quite as lucky though. The former hits a rock as he jumps into the water and the latter is captured.

While this episode doesn’t really focus on the entire Justice League as much as the first one did, but it moves the meta-human trafficking plot forward efficiently. The heroes aren’t trying to stand out by leaving their suits at home and going dark for this mission. Recognition isn’t what they’re going for and it’s admirable given all of the problems going on within the Justice League right now. They’re doing whatever it takes to make things right.

“Eminent Threat” is the appropriately titled third episode of the new season. It’s fitting that Young Justice: Outsiders dropped three episodes on day one. It gives fans the chance to spend more time catching up with the characters and dive deep into the first storyline.

The purpose of Beast Boy’s TV appearances in “Royal We” and “Eminent Threat” is to shows how he’s grown. He’s not shown as an immature young kid like he has been in the past. It’s nice to see growth all around from many of these characters.

Prince Brion and Superboy are both in trouble as Nightwing finds both of them in pods. It turns out that the Markov’s doctor is the one who was behind getting the Prince in the pod. Baron Delamb comes in and he’s the one who is running the operation. Even though the doctor was the one who put Brion in the pod, she helps Nightwing shut it down.

Vertigo isn’t the one in charge, but he’s essentially the right hand man for the Baron from the looks of it. Prince Brion was right about how much harm the Baron could do if he were to be in charge for a year. The Prince does have meta-human powers now, and the Baron goes straight to the news to lie about what the Prince has done.

This episode raises the stakes more than the first two and brings plenty of fight scenes to go along with it. We’re in the thick of the action now and it’s paying off. Prince Gregor comes to his brother’s defense, but makes him leave the country since he’s a meta-human now.

My excitement over this show being back never dwindled once while I watched the first three episodes. They had a big statement to make with the show’s return and it worked. It’s almost as if the show didn’t miss a beat in it’s lengthy hiatus. I’m looking forward to seeing more of the team members as the show continues, but this storyline was a nice reminder that they don’t all need to be present all at once. DC Universe is off to a good start with this one.

Stream Young Justice: Outsiders on Fridays on DC Universe.