Superman on Television

Young Justice: Episode Reviews

Season 2 - Episode 5: "Beneath"

Reviewed by: Isaac Frisbie

5Rating - 5 (out of 5): Wow. Double wow. Triple wow. I wish I could rate above a five because I would. This episode had everything the greatest episodes have had. I would easily put this in my top 3 episodes of this show.

Let me start with the Jaime story. The thing this show does really well is developing individual characters on a personal level. I'm so glad that coming off of the episode with Superboy we got more Blue Beetle and more backstory. The abuse story with Tye's mom was very dark, darker than most people give the show credit for. A friend of mine (thanks Nina!) pointed out it is actually a psychological syndrome known as Stockhom syndrome. A victim of abuse, captive in some way, expresses love and sympathy toward the person controlling them, to the point of defending them. This was done really well. Tye's mom showed what abuse really looks like. I think they did it in a way that wouldn't freak a kid out too much. Very clever writing on their part. This shows how deep this show is and why it's one of the best animated series I've seen.

Moving on to the women of this episode - Holy crap! I love girl power stuff in any form. But it's especially nice when they are working together in this way. Each played a proper role as a part of the team. Bumblebee felt a little out of it, but not too much. I loved the interaction with Nightwing and the team when Batgirl cornered him and asked if there was a justification for an all male squad. I laughed so hard when Nightwing stuttered out of that one.

I especially liked their collective teamwork at the end when they were all trying to stop the plane from crashing. Batgirl couldn't steer the plane, and Wonder Girl and M'Gann could not lift the plane because of the size and speed of the plane. It was a Superman moment. It was super. These girls are super. Although the season confused me a little at the start, I've moved past that. I love this new squad. I loved this episode.



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