Young Justice: Invasion “Cornered” Review

After last week’s incredible episode of Young Justice: Invasion, was this week’s able to hold its own? Yes it was. May contain spoilers.

To summarize the plot, The Hall of Justice is attacked by an evil alien warlord, Despero, who wants to challenge, well, strong people. Meanwhile on Earth, the Reach ambassador attempts to gain political advantage over the Justice League. And in another sub-plot, Black Canary (Vanessa Marshall) interviews all the kids who were abducted, leading Impulse (Jason Marsden) to urge Blue Beetle (Eric Lopez) not to mention the whole Blue Beetle becoming an evil dictator thing.

This episode, while not quite as good as the last, is still another high quality thrill ride. Despero, as in the comics, is a powerful villain, and when he arrives at The Hall of Justice, many members of The League are elsewhere, leaving only Captain Marvel (Chad Lowe), Superboy (Nolan North), Miss Martian (Danica McKeller), Bumblebee (Masasa Moyo), Zatanna (Lacey Chabert), and Mal Duncan (Kevin Michael Richardson) to face him. Some members, like Bumblebee, are as useless as you would expect, but even heavy-hitters like Superboy and Captain Marvel can’t seem to do much to Despero.

The action scenes are brutal and intense, and I love them. One scene where Despero punches Capt. Marvel in the face repeatedly made me glad that this was TV-PG. Yet, admist all the action, the writers still have time to add humor without it feeling forced. Mal Duncan gets his chance to shine in a scene that will have some comic readers cheering, and Despero’s pet robot thing gets some really clever and funny lines.

Meanwhile, during the whole politics sub-plot, the writers manage to make the Reach ambassador annoying, but not over-the-top. He manages to tick off Captain Atom (Michael T. Weiss), leak some Justice League secrets, etc, yet, if I were there in the show, I probably wouldn’t hate him. And I like the choice Blue Beetle makes at the end of the episode.

Still, I do have some complaints. I kinda wish that Despero had talked, but instead he plays out silent, with only some growls. He still manages to be more engaging than Galactus in the finale of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but still. And I really hate how the writers are treating Miss Martian. Yeah, I know that she is traumatized after maybe frying Aqualad’s brain, but c’mon. She’s scared to even mind-blast an evil alien villain who is about to kill her ex? No way. And the ending of the fight is maybe a bit rushed. It makes sense, but its something that could have been done almost the whole time.

Still, another solid episode. If the show can keep this level of quality for the whole season, than we should have nothing to worry about. Oh, and Static Shock fans will enjoy a certain scene…