YOUNG JUSTICE “Bereft” Review

YOUNG JUSTICE “Bereft” Episode 9 – This wasn’t a bad episode, all in all, though at the end of the day I find I don’t have much to say about it. The animation continues to be decent, if not quite in the Justice League realm of quality. The colors can at times be a little wonky, but I feel like MOI Animation is continually trying new things, so I don’t fault them for occasional growing pains.

“Bereft” was written by Nicole Dubuc and directed by Michael Chang. More on that effort later.

Keeping with last week’s theme, I think I’ll continue down my usual track:

Things I Learned While Watching Young Justice:

I learned Kid Flash runs out of “fuel.” I assume he means energy, or food, which begs the question of why he doesn’t carry a pound of Power Bars with him at all times. Unless he’s like a video game and has an “energy meter.” Maybe he should keep a mage nearby for free mana. Following that train of thought, maybe, like Aqualad, he needs water as well. Speaking of Aqualad…

I learned Aqualad is weakened when left out in the desert sun with no wate—oh. Duh.

I learned Artemis’s dad is a dick:

Artemis: “Another one of my dad’s tests.”
Kid Flash: “Tests?”
Artemis: “He probably wants me to kill you.”

Proper parenting; it’s a learned skill.

I learned Young Justice is not afraid of the blatant double entendre:

Artemis to Kid Flash: “Stop touching yourself!”

(You had to be there. And I assume you were if you are reading a review of the episode.)

(If you did not see “Bereft,” I can tell you that yes, Kid Flash was touching himself. In a bad way. Write your angry letters to Cartoon Network now.)

I learned that the word “whelmed” is rarely used.

“I don’t want to overwhelm you.”
“Or underwhelm you.”
“Hey, why isn’t anyone just whelmed?”

I wondered that as well. That was a salient question. Thanks, Robin. I shall endeavor to use “whelmed” more often.

I learned that, with Robo Superboy’s help, Miss Martian can psionically overcome the psionically psuperior Psimon—a creepy-looking bald villain whose cranium is somehow exposed so we can view his mutant brain. In the DC Universe, Psimon is an old-school opponent of the Justice League of America, the Doom Patrol, and the Teen Titans. So a kid like Megan, without her memories and only a bit of “raw” psionic talent (even if she’s Martian Manhunter’s niece), shouldn’t be able to overcome this guy. Yes, even while holding Robo Superboy’s hand.

(…?)

But hey, this is Earth-16. Maybe Psimon is a total doink in this parallel universe. And possibly hand-holding adds to super powers.

Makes you wonder how powerful they’d be if they’d been making out and fighting Psimon at the same time. Doesn’t it? I man if hand-holding grants extra oomph. What about second base? I’m just following the line of logic here, people.

Which brings me to my criticism of the writing, which—let’s be plain—is still pretty superior for a cartoon. But there’s a chance Nicole Dubuc is wholly unfamiliar with the phenomenon of “shipping” (short for “relationshipping” I guess?), in which various fans make little wish lists of romantic relationships they wish would happen on their favorite shows. These usually spawn “shipping” threads in various online chat communities, in which impassioned fans let their opinions be heard (usually quite vocally), sometimes even spawning “fan fiction,” which is usually as badly-written as it is mind-numblingly perverted.

If you don’t believe me, do a web search of Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy fanfic one of these days. Keep your children in another room when you do so.

So Dubuc is either unfamiliar with it, since she’s so blatantly creating two obvious power couples (henceforth known as PWRCPLs) in the Artemis/Kid Flash and Miss Martian/Superboy pairings, not allowing the internet fandoms even a moment’s chance to work themselves in to a lather over who should be with whom.

Or…

Or she does know about the phenomenon and wants to nip it in the proverbial bud. If so, bravo for that.

(I mean, it won’t stop the inevitable Robin/Batman/Kid Flash Yaoi threesome posts from popping up, but I applaud the valiant effort.)

I do have to remind myself it’s a cartoon and should thus grade on a scale. And anyway, Young Justice is still superior to Law & Order: SVU.

Next episode: Who knows? Should be fun-ish.

Follow me on Twitter! That’s @Axechucker, freaks. PWRCPLs welcome.