Synopsis
As Meta-Human trafficking spreads across the United States, three very different teams of heroes seek to put a stop to it!
Review
Wow does this series know how to make a Bat fan happy. This season has already shown off baby Damian and a resurrected Jason Todd. Now we’re adding in Spoiler, Orphan, Clayface and Mad Hatter to the story.
“Triptych” is a brilliantly constructed episode. It tells us three individual stories but has them intersect thanks to tech from Jervis Tetch. Scenes featuring the Batcave and a projected Wonder Woman act as the central point where all our stories converge.
Each of the stories is individually intriguing. The first, told by Dick, features his team going up against Shade, Mist and Livewire. These scenes also feature the return of Cheshire which adds plenty of angst for Artemis.
There’s some great fight scenes during this story. It’s more of an action piece than an exploratory detective mission. When Black Lightning tells Livewire she’s never had black lightning before it gets a little cringe. I can forgive one cringe line in a good episode however.
The second story is told by Robin. Tim Drake reports to Batman that he, Spoiler, Arrowette, and Orphan were tracking Clayface disguised as Jervis Tetch in order to find the real Tetch. Though they catch up to him, the Mad Hatter escapes with a young man he was experimenting on.
This is much more of a detective story as the team track Clayface through Gotham’s streets. It’s slower paced and adds to the anthology aesthetic of the episode. The fight sequence with Clayface in the alley is still a great watch though.
At this stage we begin to piece together that there’s more going on to these stories than meets the eye. Peter David does a great job of telling three self contained stories before lifting the lid on a much bigger picture.
In the third story, Kaldur reports to Wonder Woman about a prison transport, wherein Sportsmaster escaped with a metahuman prisoner. Honestly this was the most forgettable of the three stories. Thought it does feature the return of Sportsmaster, again sure to upset the balance of Artemis.
It transpires that Sportsmaster released Shade, so that Tetch could inject him with nano-tech to make him more susceptible to manipulation. All of this was part of a metahuman trafficking ring run by industrialist Simon Stagg, who is arrested for his crimes. While in his cell, he’s visited by Shade.
The episode culminates in a worry situation for Diana who feels the teams are now crossing a line in order to make inroads with the traffickers. Her moral compass remains entirely intact and in stark contrast to the actions of the others.
The end of the episode feels very downbeat in comparison to previous entries in this season. The metahuman trafficking storyline is once again weighing heavy on our characters and with only five episodes left in this first block I feel it might only get heavier from here.
Verdict
“Triptych” is another huge Bat family episode of Young Justice. Technically another world building episode of the series it also edges the story along just enough to keep the intrigue alive.
7/10
Young Justice stars Jesse McCartney, Nolan North, Stephanie Lemelin, Khary Payton, Zehra Fazal, Troy Baker and Jason Spisak. The series is directed by Christopher Berkeley and Mel Zwyer and producers by Sam Register, Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti.
The series premieres new episodes weekly via the DC Universe streaming service.
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