Reviews Comments: Not terrible...

Young Justice whole series review by Eagal

Not terrible...

But not especially good either. It has its ups and downs, but for the most part the show hovers just this side of mediocre.

The storylines, such as they are, are bland and forgettable. It's the characters that drive the show and even they are meh.

The Justice League suffers from lack of proper attention. They appear often and receive so little characterization when they do that they are basically just moving scenery.

The team (circa season 1) is as bland and forgettable as the storylines, with certain exceptions.

Miss Martian, who has gotten quite a lot of hate for her characterization. Her "personality", which is gratingly obnoxious, is eventually revealed to be a front; she is purposely mimicking an old Earth sitcom in an attempt to fit in. Her true personality, however, is inconsistent. In her first episode she casually destroys Mister Twister, reasoning that it's okay to do so because he's a robot, but this belief is never explored again.

Secondly, Superboy, whom I personally loathhe with a fiery passion. His faux-bad boy attitude and the show's blatant (and failed) attempts at making him a tough guy make me want to show a chunk of kryptonite into every orifice.

The rest of the team are bland one notes. Kid Flash is a "jokester". Robin has a word fetish. Aqualad is The Stoic. Artemis shoots arrows. Rocket is an utterly generic Sassy Black Woman. Bleh.

The villains for the most part are just as generic. Sportsmaster is the only interesting one. Joker is notable only in that his voice is terrible. Also, Black Adam = Dumb Muscle instead of Superman-level threat...

As a minor note: Icicle Jr could have been interesting. There was a staggering amount of Ho Yay between him and Superboy in the episode where SB&MM went undercover. Coulda been interesting to explore that. But it's a kids show and homosexuality is worse than murder to these people soooo...yeah.

Season 2 I won't even go into detail on. The addition of 3948 new characters has left no room for additional characterization, which is just as well because it's so far proven to be nothing but pointless Fan Service.

Two characters stand out, however. Firstly, Blue Beetle. I loathe Blue Beetle. His Gratuitous Spanish inspires genocidal feelings in me.

Also...I know I implied Fan Service was bad but...IMPULSE IS JASON MARSDEN!!! WOOT!!!

No, Impulse is JASON MARSDEN. Cyclops/Richard White/Prince Edward isn't in this show.

comment #15202 ManwiththePlan 5th Jul 12

Right you are. My bad. :P

Edit*

comment #15203 Eagal 5th Jul 12

Can't edit. Well, either way.

comment #15204 Eagal 5th Jul 12

sigh* This again? Did you seriously try watching this show as is or did you try to watch it as a new Justice League cartoon but with sidekicks? Because that's not what it is. The main League don't get attention because this show is not about them.

And really, there are still complaints about characterization, even after an entire season's worth of character development? The only thing you can say about Robin is "word fetish"? No struggles with the expectation of living up to Batman while not feeling the will or abillity to do so? Superboy's tough guy attitude stemmed from his Cloning Blues related anger and has since been dealt with. Also, Artemis "shoots arrows"? Not even a mention of her conflicted character origin and lack of psychological readiness for heroics that almost sent her into a Heroic BSOD? Yes, Aqualad is The Stoic, but that is an actual personality that people can have. He still goes through numerous trials and tribulations in his role as leader of the team. Seriously dude, watch the show again, you were clearly not paying attention. Rocket was around for what, two episodes at the end of the season? Not a lot of room for character development. Only Zatanna had serious issues in terms of development considering the length of time she was actually on the show. All she had was the Aesop of Be Careful What You Wish For.

Also, "forgettable" is so vague that it really shouldn't be considered legitimate criticism.

comment #15209 McSomeguy 6th Jul 12

I have no illusions that YJ is just a JL knockoff. It is its own show, and in that, it fails.

I did not mention the "struggles with the expectation of living up to Batman" because there were no such struggles present.

Superboy's clone rage may or may not have been the root of his tough guy attitude, but they are by no means dealt with. They've just stopped

Artemis' "conflicted character origin" and "lack of psychological readiness for heroics". I won't even dignify that load of malarky with a proper response.

The Stoic may be a legitimate personality trait, but not when it's the only personality trait they have. As to his "trials and tribulations as a leader", well, let's see here...he actually had none. Being that he was absent for most of the episodes, the biggest trial he had as a leader was whether or not to trust Bane. That turned out great. Not to mention he's explicitly a placeholder for Robin, so it's not like he was ever going to faced with any real problems to begin with.

Seems to me that you're reading alot more into the show than is actually there. Sort of like Everyone Is Jesus In Purgatory.

comment #15218 Eagal 6th Jul 12

Sounds to me like you were only watching the show out of the corner of your eye or something. You ignore the character development that they are given and then complain that there was none.

1)Really? Robin didn't act up as if he was the automatic leader solely due to the virtue of being Batman's apprentice, only to fail at it and later admit that he doesn't really feel like he will ever have what it takes to become another Batman and that he doesn't really want to either? This wasn't even implied, it's literally what he said.

2)If by stopped you mean slowly faded away as Superboy learns to be around people and stops thinking of himself as all powerful because he's the clone of the great and mighty Superman.

3) Great rebutal you got there. Very eloquent and nicely conveys that you couldn't think of anything rational to say.

4) Right, it was all smooth sailing for Aqualad as team leader, except, you know, when the entire team rejected his leadership after it was revealed that he didn't tell them about the suspicions of a mole in the team.

comment #15222 McSomeguy 6th Jul 12

I agree with Mc Someguy here. Your review show massive ignorance of the characters' growth throughout the season.

Miss Martian's little sociopathic moment with the robot is an early hint of her ruthless behavior, which becomes increasingly noticeable when she brain-blasts her team to keep her secret and mind rapes Psimon, and becomes a full-blown subplot by the second season. Also, how was Superboy's angst unwarranted? He lives a warped life as a clone that is rejected by his possible role model. At least he grows out of it and mellows out.

Kid Flash is a lot more than just the "jokester". He has denial and priorities issues that he deals with in the show. Robin wants to jump to the opportunity of leadership right away to impress Batman, only to see how he's not ready to handle it yet, and how he is a different person than his mentor. Aqualad has shown his self-sacrifices by being the leader, and how this is pushed to its limits by going undercover in season two. Artemis and her arc are a lot more than just "malarky", and that attempt to simplify it like that shows shortsightedness.

How was the bit with Icicle Jr. a disadvantage? The show shouldn't be punished because it's not your personal fan-fiction.

And Blue Beetle's "Spanglish" lasted for all of one episode. He's toned down considerable since.

comment #15246 GamerSlyRatchet 6th Jul 12

You really think Artemis doesn't have conflicting Character origin and lack of readiness for heroics? her mom's a retired assassin, her father and sister are not only active assassins, but have actively clashed with the team.......given the situation it's pretty damn clear that she's torn between escaping her family's legacy of violence and death and her doubts at being able to do so.

Superboy's turning point was Agenda's when he learned that the source of his human dna........is lex luthor. His "father" is one of the guys he's been fighting, and the scary thing is that guy was still more supportive than his other father. The realization of just how much the Shield powerboosting effected his anger and aggression presumably helped him tone it down, as did superman finally acknowledging that he had been unfair.

comment #18232 DARTHYAN 16th Feb 13

What a surprised. Once again its Eagal with the terrible review and missing the point in the series, sigh. Mc Some Guy and Darthyan pretty much nail it.

comment #18889 qtjinla15 14th Apr 13

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