Young Justice season 3, episode 12 review: Nightmare Monkeys

The twelfth episode of Young Justice: Outsiders shows once gain how much fun this show can be, while still delivering on story and depth of character.

On Friday, Young Justice: Outsiders dropped its next batch of episodes (number ten through thirteen) on the “DC Universe” streaming service. Check out my reviews for episodes three, six, and nine.

This episode of Young Justice, entitled “Nightmare Monkeys,” focused its attention on Garfield “Gar” Logan/Beast Boy. Finally, the reasons why Beast Boy chose to pursue a career on a sci-fi television show (“Space Trek 3016”) are officially revealed.

Main plot

Gretchen Goode (AKA Granny Goodness) is revealed to be the studio head behind Beast Boy’s show. Beast Boy is under the care of his stepfather, Steve Dayton, who Gar calls “Mento” in a derisive manner. Steve is clearly part of Garfield’s choice to pursue television, and there is some tension between them.

Beast Boy goes to meet his date, Queen Perdita of Vlatava, in Beverly Hills, CA. While waiting for her to get ready, Gar gets his first interaction with the Goode Goggles (virtual reality goggles). During his interface, a small needle takes his DNA, and suddenly, Beast Boy is inundated with subliminal messages to go to Encino, CA.

Beast Boy ends up in a psychic trance. During this trance, Garfield interacts with his past fallen comrades like his godmother Rita/Elasti-Girl, Jason Todd (the second Robin), and especially, his good friend Kid Flash (Wally West), who gave his life at the end of the second season of Young Justice.

In the real world, Gar faints from his psychic dealings caused by the goggles. But within his own mind, he starts to deal with the deaths that have haunted him – even making him afraid to continue being a hero. The Young Justice writers do a nice job of looking at how death has put a heavy weight on Beast Boy. Instead of dealing with those deaths and continuing his quest as a hero, Gar just retreated and focused on a television career.

Garfield’s travels through his own mind take itself to an absurd point of being placed in the animated world of another DC animated show: Teen Titans Go. In this world, the writers of Young Justice have some fun, as Beast Boy enters a world they call “Doom Patrol Go.”

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Beast Boy is still himself in this world, and conveniently still voiced by Greg Cipes, who joined the cast of Young Justice this year. Gar then meets the Doom Patrol: Rita/Elasti-Girl is voiced by Starfire (Hynden Walch), Chief is voiced by Robin (Scott Menville), Robotman is voiced by Cyborg (Khary Payton), and Negative Woman is voiced by Raven (Tara Strong) from the Teen Titans Go voice cast.

The Young Justice writers even put together a little comedic song about death in this portion of the episode. The point being that being a hero comes with a downside. Death (or Doom in this case) is part of the deal. Being a hero isn’t simple – risking one self to help others means that sacrifices will be made along the way.

In the real world, Garfield’s older sister M’gann (Miss Martian) enters Beast Boy’s brain to try to help him. But Gar is already working out the problem on his own. He sees that quitting the hero gig wasn’t the right choice. Beast Boy has to push past the ghosts of his loved ones and go back to being a hero.

Again, Young Justice has a message behind all of its superhero storytelling. Loss and depression cannot suppress living one’s life. It is really poignant and beautiful.

Some may say the goofiness of this episode (specifically the Teen Titans Go portion) is out-of-place. But the reality is that this was all happening in Garfield’s mind. It is a great way to stretch into the realm of humor, while maintaining a very serious plot point for this hero.

Secondary plot

The other portion of the episode established that Violet/Halo has been infused with the soul of “mother box” tech. This means that her original self (Gabrielle Daou) is in fact dead, killed when “mother box” became a part of her. Violet has become this fresh entity that is partially “mother box” but brand new, as well.

This infusion is the reason why Halo can heal herself and is able to help cleanse Victor Stone/Cyborg of “father box’s” control over him. So, the episode establishes this important relationship between Halo and Cyborg. Anytime that Cyborg has a “father box” episode, Halo must use her “mother box” infusion to cleanse him of it.

Young Justice adds another interesting layer to the “Fourth World” tech of New Genesis/Apokolips. Halo and Cyborg’s infusions with that tech is certain to play a role in an eventual face-off with Darkseid.

Between Halo’s discovery of her infusion with “mother box” and Beast Boy’s discovery that he is still a hero, this was another solid effort for Young Justice. This episode leads nicely into the mid-season finale: season 3, episode 13 – “True Heroes.”

Final score – 9/10