GUIDES – EPISODE REVIEWS – “VOLATILE”
Volatile
Original Airdate – October 21, 2021
Miss Martian and Superboy grapple with family traditions while Beast Boy grapples with something darker.
Written by Brandon Vietti
Directed by Christina Sotta
Review by Frontier
Media by Warner Bros. Animation
Please note our regular reviewer, “GregX,” is currently on sabbatical.
Observations:
Written by Frontier, edited by James Harvey
Another strong outing for Young Justice, packed with a lot of great moments! That scene of the Outsiders taking on Kobra felt straight out of an 80’s cartoon, complete with the whole “Kobraaaa!” moment. Kind of surreal that Kobra was treated as this major threat in season one and then gets taken out fairly matter-of-factly.
This episode has some great character-building, too. For example, I always just assumed J’onn is the most understanding and accepting guy in general, but it turns out he learned some of that from his time on Earth, and that’s part of why he was accepting of his sister’s mixed marriage and embraced his mixed nieces and nephews. Some great development right there for the hero!
But as well things are maybe going for J’onn, M’Gann otherwise has some serious family drama dealing with Martian culture. It’s pretty clear a lot of this is supposed to be a take on some of our own earthbound politics. M’Gann thinks her older sister is trying to be more “Green” because she’s ashamed of being part of a mixed family with a White Martian and never protected her little siblings because they were “White,” and M’Gann’s older sister think she’s ashamed of her Martian side which is why she tries to look so human. Not subtle but not overbearing, either, but a topic worth addressing never-the-less.
Another nice note is how M’Gann doesn’t think of her Martian form as her real form anymore, instead her current mixed form. Unquestionably M’Gann’s journey and approach to her appearance will hit close to home for a lot of viewers.
Garfield Logan’s trouble on Mars has him nearly over-the-edge. Part of it was the brain blast, but what happened with Brion seems to be the cracking point for him. Him feeling like he’s failed another family member, and now how desperate he is not to lose anyone else, is not going to end well for him.
Getting more appearances by the Legion of Super Heroes has also been a nice treat here, and Saturn Girl gets a great showcase here. She gets to show off her strength as a telepath and how much of a hero she is when she convincingly plays M’Gann in Beast Boy’s mind to try and fix his mental and push him on the road to recovery. And, of course, the Legion wouldn’t be the Legion if they let a pesky thing like not interfering in the timeline stop them from helping someone!
Lastly, this episode’s end credits scene this episode is Superman finally talking to Lois on the phone about Jon and just chilling at the Watchtower. It’s a nice relaxing moment until he starts worrying about Jon’s powers kicking in and rushes home. Clark must finally know what it was like for the Kents to raise him!
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