Young Justice season 3, episode 18 review: Early Warning

By being able to act when called upon, Young Justice: Outsiders demonstrates how the public team has in many ways passed up its Justice League counterparts.

The eighteenth episode of Young Justice: Outsiders has been released on the DC Universe streaming service. This episode, entitled “Early Warning,” continues the new public direction for the team led by Beast Boy/Garfield Logan.

Magic

The main part of the story concerns stopping a metahuman trafficking center in Cuba. Beast Boy’s public team is forced to go in because the Justice League will cause an international incident by intervening.

The foe for this mission is Klarion, who refers to himself as a Lord of Chaos – and he does not disappoint. This character is always very cruel. In this episode, Klarion uses his magic to activate the meta-gene in his teen prisoners. That is followed by a magic branding to control the newly created meta-human weapon.

And of course, that wasn’t enough for Klarion. He deemed the new metahumans as nothing special, so he combined them into what he called a “flesh monster.” Klarion always seems to take his plans one step further than necessary – just to amp up the spiteful and sadistic way he treats everyone around him.

With the help of Justice Leaguer Zatanna, who has to keep her involvement secret, the public team is able to defeat Klarion. The end credits even has Klarion endlessly stuck in Dr. Fate’s Tower of Fate. For a throwaway moment, it was actually pretty funny and one of the best final-credits sequences this season.

Manipulation of Violet

Dr. Helga Jace finally admits to Halo/Violet that she studied her DNA sample by taking her hair from a brush. Helga then reveals that Violet only has months to live because her cells are deteriorating, despite the fact that Halo can heal herself with her powers.

Dr. Jace even admits to having a mentor that might be able to help save Violet’s life. But Helga believes that it would be better not to share this news with the team, until they have found a solution. Violet agrees to keep quiet.

From the viewpoint of Violet, it is easy to see why she might think Dr. Jace is doing right by her. But the whole thing looks like a way to isolate Halo from the oncoming fight against Darkseid/The Light – or maybe even Helga’s secret mentor.

Violet ends up drinking and firing guns on a beach with her classmate Harper Row. Clearly, the news of her impending death has upset her, and Violet ends up getting arrested. When Miss Martian picks Halo up, she is not forthcoming with what is bothering her. It certainly will be a thread to watch over the final eight episodes.

Better than the League

The previous episode exposed why Beast Boy’s public team was really the best way for these heroes to help. Both the covert team and the Justice League have had to deal with either staying in the shadows – or not getting involved at all – because of the sanctions against metahumans (specifically metahuman heroes).

At the end of this episode, “The Outsiders” are even referred to as being bigger than the Justice League. And in some ways, in this Young Justice universe, they really are because they can actually help. Without the public team, the fight against Klarion in Cuba would have been impossible, and the metahuman teens would not have been saved.