Review: Young Justice: Phantoms “Artemis Through The Looking Glass”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Tigress catches up with her sister Cheshire as a Shadowed history catches up with them both.

Our Take:

It’s nice to see these two sisters reunite after years of separation. But it looks like their little reunion will have to wait. As seen in last week’s episode, Artemis seeks the help of her estranged sister to find the actual mole who’s working for the League of Shadows. This week, we see if she made the right choice.

“Artemis Through the Looking Glass” continues where the previous episode left off. Artemis seeks Jade’s help in interrogating both Onyx and Cassandra. Unfortunately, the heroes still haven’t gone anywhere because of the former Shadow members’ history. When Lady Shiva and the League arrive at the scene and capture Orphan, Artemis will have to join forces with Onyx and Cassandra to rescue her. Meanwhile, Beast Boy hangs out at the Outsiders headquarters following his adventure on Mars.  

The episode continues the season’s second story arc that pits Artemis and her team against the League of Shadows and the sisterly relationship between her and Jade. It also continues its intriguing trend of episodes referencing classic novels. The previous episode referenced Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, including the title and Artemis’ quote in the mid-credit scene.  

This week sees the show referencing Lewis Carroll’s sequel novel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. It’s pretty appropriate since Jade’s alter ego name is Cheshire, named after the Alice in Wonderland character, the Cheshire Cat. The episode also represented Jade’s “mad as hatters” quote a couple of times, which showcased her feelings towards people’s actions, including Artemis’ plan to rescue Orphan.

“Artemis Through the Looking Glass” continues the arc’s approach in further exploring the Crock sisters’ history and putting Artemis’ trust in Onyx and Cassandra to the test. The result is an exciting continuation that’s packed with drama, action, and a shocking surprise. The episode’s structure did feel a bit similar to its previous chapter regarding the flashbacks and mid-credit scene. However, it also offered more insight into the characters’ relationship while providing enough intensity in the action and interrogation sequences.

If there’s one thing in this episode that left me feeling mixed, it was the subplot involving Beast Boy. He just stays behind at HQ, feeling down on himself while the Outsiders go out on their mission. On the one hand, those scenes effectively showcased the character’s way of mourning without dialogue. But, on the other hand, they feel like a pointless necessity to fit the usual 23-minute runtime. It would be nice to see more of Beast Boy’s development in a separate episode or any other type of media later down the road.

Overall, “Artemis Through the Looking Glass” is indeed as mad as a hatter. Despite its similar structure and execution on Beast Boy’s scenes, the episode improved upon last week’s chapter by upping the trust antics and revealing Orphan’s true identity as Lady Shiva’s daughter. I didn’t think I would see that twist coming, but this episode knew how to prove me wrong. With Artemis getting Onyx and Cassandra to prove their worth to her, it wouldn’t be long until we know who’s truthful and who’s the mole. It would also be interesting to see how long this arc can continue referencing the classic novels, including Alice in Wonderland, before we all go mad ourselves.