Young Justice: Invasion “True Colors” Review


As the Invasion arc continues, alliances are broken, and new aliens show up. Is the show getting better, or is it jumping the shark?

I have been enjoying the Invasion arc, and while I am still waiting for specific characters to appear, it is otherwise going smoothly. In today’s episode, True Colors, LexCorp and the Reach form an alliance and create a laboratory. Obviously, this lab is probably a front for something shady, so Robin (Cameron Bowen) leads a covert team (which consists of Blue Beetle, Impulse, and Arsenal (!)) to sneak inside the building, find proof of underhanded goings-on, and get the heck out of dodge. How can this go wrong? Meanwhile, Sportsmaster (Nick Chinlund) announces his plans to avenge Artemis.

Once again, we have a very high quality episode that I have few complaints about. The show continues to juggle the various sub-plots without feeling too stuffed. The scenes switch seamlessly, and the viewer never feels (too) confused. The dialogue continues to impress me; Robin, who is leading his first ever mission, feels nervous, excited, and maybe a bit jaded about Arsenal (Crispin Freeman), and Cameron Bowen does an impressive jon showing this.

The mission, which is pretty risky, keeps you on the edge of your seat, and the tense music helps the atmosphere. Speaking of tense moments, Black Manta (Khary Payton) hires Psimon to fix his son’s mind; problem is, once Psimon fixes Aqualad’s mind, The Light will realize that he is a double agent. Not good.

The epsiode gets even better in the second half, as Black Beetle (Kevin Grevioux) makes his epic return. Black Beetle was cool in his previous appearance in “Before the Dawn“, and he is just as cool here. The team seems doomed…untill they get help from a green Beetle. Who comes from Mars. And seems to know Martian Manhunter. Whoah. Awesome.

Still, I suppose I should get around to filing some complaints. Why in the world does the team trust Arsenal? He has anger issues, disobeys a direct order, and accepted a gift from Lex Luthor. And as much as I like having all these ongoing plot-lines, I’m getting a bit worried. We are over half-way thorugh this season, and the writers have just added a new character. I hope the writers can wrap this all up soon, in case this show isn’t renewed for a third season.

Minor gripes aside, I absolutely ate this episode up. Next Saturday can’t come soon enough.