Review: Young Justice: Outsiders “Early Warning”

Side-effects may include underage drinking, bad decisions and questioning your sexuality.

The episode begins with news coverage of Beast Boys Team the Titular “Outsiders” who have managed to win over the public after what they did in the previous episode along with Beast Boy’s celebrity status, but the real kicker is when Dr. Jace privately tells Violet that as a side effect of frequently using her mother box powers to heal herself from extreme injuries, she’s knocking on death’s door with the possibility of only having a few months left to live, but it turns out that the person Jace may have had a phone call with could potentially help her, but for the time being to keep her present condition a secret  under Jace’s advisement. Meanwhile Zatanna is obsessed with seeking out Dr. Fate for obvious & personal reasons regarding her father, while the Outsiders are on a Mission to Cuba to take on another DC classic villain, Klarion the Witch Boy (Voiced by Thom Adcox) who serves an actual purpose for a project  for “The Light” involving kidnapped kids and forcibly unlocking their “Meta-Gene” powers for a mission which is strangely called “Project Rutabega”

Zatanna is secretly part of the mission to stop Klarion but in the process almost messes up due to a “Cronenberg”-looking monster Klarion was using to as a means of defense, but Zatanna manages to stop the creature and Klarion in the most comedic and satisfying way that left me laughing even during the credits. As this is going on, Violet is dealing with the inner-turmoil of the combination of things from earlier by hanging out with an unlikely classmate named Harper Rowe leading to a twist even I didn’t expect from anything DC Animated, a possible girl on girl romance between the two?

It’s later revealed within the episode that she was involved with other criminal activities, but When Violet is bailed out of prison, M’Gann/Miss Martian asks what’s going on but taken Jace’s words to heart, doesn’t say. We’re also given a little insight into Terra’s mind in a flashback sequence of her self defense training with Deathstroke whom she’s secretly been a spy for this whole time, juxtaposed to Tigress/Artemis who gives her some perspective on her past experiences in combat training with her Supervillain Father SportsMaster. When the Outsiders return with some new Meta-Kids to the treatment center the episode ends on two big twists. Edwardo who’s part of Treatment center wants to make a difference by joining the Outsiders, while the Social Media hashtag nature of the Outsides begins to reach ridiculous proportions of popularity.

Our Take

For a “Villain of the week” Klarion kinda nails it as a legit threat, but he’s like if that obnoxious dolt from the ‘Berries and Cream” Starburst commercial became an evil sorcerer. As for what Dr. Jace encouraged Violet to do, I’m kinda glad that there’s a sense of urgency and consequence to each time she heals herself. Given her childlike-nature, it would make sense that Violet would be easily swayed by some delinquent kid into making some bad decisions almost like an “after school special/falling into the wrong crowd” cliche story, but my question is what kinda crime did Violet commit to warrant an arresting? on the same subject, in regards to Harper’s attempt at seduction, I’m all for LGBTQ relationships but last time I checked bisexual people weren’t degenerate troublemakers who encourage underaged drinking, bad behavior and shooting random things with a gun.

I know for a while I’ve not touched upon Terra and the obvious Twist of her secretly collecting information and working for Deathstroke/Slade, but it’s Not much of a spoiler if you know anything about her comic lore, or that popular Teen Titans story “The Judas Contract” So it’s just a matter of time before she shows her true colors to why she even took Slade’s side in the first place.

I’m curious to see the direction Violet will take next or if it’ll impact future storylines, but points to DC Universe for breaking boundaries with that lesbian kiss, They wouldn’t have gotten away with that shit back when the first two Seasons were on Cartoon Network around 2010-2011, compared to now with shows like Steven Universe. (Seriously, Legend of Korra can suck-it.)