Young Justice season 3, episode 25 review: Overwhelmed

Young Justice: Outsiders provided a more cerebral than action-packed story for the season’s penultimate episode. Spoilers ahead.

The twenty-fifth episode of Young Justice: Outsiders (entitled “Overwhelmed”) surprisingly set the stage for Superboy and Artemis with a pretty thought-provoking story. The episode also put the war with Darkseid and Apokolips on the back burner – at least for now.

Artemis’ closure

Early in the episode, Tigress/Artemis and Will Harper share a kiss on Valentine’s Day. But Artemis is unable to move forward with Will (or anyone for that matter) because of her feelings for Wally West – the original Kid Flash – who died at the end of the second season of Young Justice.

Artemis asks Zatanna to help her reconnect with Wally in the afterlife. And in this afterlife limbo, Artemis is able to have the life she missed out on with Wally (including marriage and a child). By the end of it, Artemis is forced to choose to go back to reality, so that she can move on with her life, which is the choice that she ultimately makes.

When Artemis returns, it is revealed that she was not actually seeing Wally after all, as Zatanna and Miss Martian use their combined powers to guide Artemis through her grief. But it is actually Artemis’ imagination that creates all the details of her experiences with Wally.

In the end, there was sort of a nice message here about the difficulty of dealing with grief. When we lose someone close to us, it can take an immense amount of time and effort to work through all those feelings.

While Artemis was helped by her friends, she was still ultimately responsible for working through her problems. So it was an interesting way to tell this part of the story. If Zatanna and Miss Martian ever decide to tell Artemis the truth remains to be seen. But in the end, they were trying to help their friend get closure from her lost love, and it looks like they succeeded.

Superboy’s calling

Superboy/Conner Kent takes Forager/Fred Bugg to a town called Geranium City. Here, the Genomorphs from season one of Young Justice have settled and hidden themselves using their psychic powers.

The Genomorphs are grateful to Conner for helping them to escape Cadmus and the rule of Lex Luthor. But they ask more of Conner moving forward, as aliens continue to be segregated.

Again, the metaphor of this story is not lost. When anyone is being segregated for their race, religion, sexual orientation, country of origin, or any other thing that makes someone different, the writers of Young Justice continue to push for treating everyone as equals. It is an important message for a story about heroes.

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It takes a level of heroics to stand against things like bigotry, racism, and just flat-out nonsense-laden hate. And Young Justice serves a reminder of the importance of tolerance and treating one another with respect.

It can seem like a minor thing, but this is the goal of storytelling – even in a cartoon. It is supposed to help reinforce the best in us. And messages like this can help bridge the gap between what is right and wrong.

And for Superboy, this episode should lead him to take a bigger role in the fight. He should be at the forefront of justice because of the red “S” on the front of his t-shirt. That symbol represents the best of all heroes. And it is time for Conner to be part of that Superman legacy.

Darkseid “seid”-lined

Metron makes another appearance in this episode, and he decides to have a quick conversation with Halo/Violet and Vic Stone/Cyborg. Metron calls these two heroes his grandchildren because they are the offspring of the mother and father box intellect that he created.

What is most interesting is that Metron predicts that these two heroes will play a big role in the galactic fight to come. At this point, with just one more episode left in Young Justice: Outsiders, it looks like the fight with Darkseid will not come until next season. But it is certain that Halo and Cyborg will be at the center of Darkseid’s plans – or the focus of his wrath.

For what will be the final episode of this season, it can be assumed that the biggest showdown will be between the Young Justice team and Lex Luthor’s group of villains (The Light). The only other thing that remains to be seen is if Tara/Terra’s betrayal is finally revealed. And what will be the fallout of Batman’s covert actions (and manipulations) this season?

Now, the tough part will be waiting for season four, which is already in production. So at the very least, there won’t be the nearly six-year wait that it took for season three. For now, all 26 episodes of Young Justice: Outsiders are available on the DC Universe streaming service.