Young Justice: Outsiders season 3, episode 13 recap: True Heroes

We reach the midseason finale of Young Justice: Outsiders with a family reunion and the preamble to a fan-favorite comic book arc.

It’s Halloween and the Outsiders are excited to get the party started. That’s till Dick Grayson/ Nightwing cancels their plans because he’s got a lead on the location of Brion Markov/ Geo-Force’s sister, Tara. Nightwing asks Violet Harper/ Halo to stay behind in case Victor Stone needs help, but she’s distressed about letting her boyfriend, Brion, go without her. Dr. Helga Jace consoles the young girl in the midseason episode of Young Justice: Outsiders.

Halo’s affection for Brion effectively causes her powers to short circuit. This, unfortunately, coincides with Vic’s father box taking over. He terrorizes Halo as she tries to hide. Though Victor tries to hold off the father box, he doesn’t succeed for long. Halo finally conquers her overwhelming feelings and purges the evil influence from Vic. This time, it’s for good.

Nightwing debriefs Brion about the lead they have on Tara. After what Garfield Logan/ Beast Boy went through in the previous episode, Young Justice has figured out that Gretchen Goode’s VR goggles take samples from the wearers to test for meta-human DNA. When detected, the goggles send subliminal messages to brainwash the metas to go to depots and trading posts where meta-human trafficking takes place. The Justice League and the rest of the team are taking down the depots concurrently, while Nightwing’s Outsiders head to Greater Bialya to save Tara.

In episode 10, Batman had overheard Deathstroke mention Tara being handed over to ‘Granny’. Now that Gar has made the connection between the goggles and Gretchen Goode, the League has realized that this term is a reference to Goode’s nickname, Granny Goodness, and follow the lead to Greater Bialya.

Young Justice: Outsiders episode 13 (Credit: DC Universe)

Nightwing sends a probe to the destination which turns out to be a party with the Court of Owls? Nightwing is not interested in the spectators, however, he’s looking at the meta-human security, Onslaught. This place is a meta-human fight club, and the first one in the arena is Tara Markov/ Terra. It’s a pity the showrunners decided against delving into the Court of Owls, but perhaps they will in a later episode.

Since Onslaught includes Psimon, a powerful psychic, the team have to be careful with their emotions. Geo-Force, Jefferson Pierce/ Black Lightning and Artemis Crock/ Tigress go undercover and Lightning is able to zap Psimon from afar. With him out of the way, the field team concentrate on rescuing Tara. When bidding on the metas begins, Artemis wins Terra and brother and sister are finally united.

Young Justice: Outsiders episode 13 (Credit: DC Universe)

With Tara safe, Young Justice return to rescue the rest of the metas. Conner Kent/ Superboy meets his rival, Junior, once again. The two of them banter while beating each other up, but at least Junior is happy to hear about Superboy’s engagement to Miss Martian. Onslaught are formidable, but when Terra and Geo-Force join the fray, the team are able to finally defeat them and return home.

Back on solid ground, Tara and Dr. Jace bond over their shared experiences with Bedlam, while Brion excitedly introduces his girlfriend Violet to his sister. Nightwing is certain that the Outsiders, including Tara, are ready to join the team, but he’s still not sure about Victor.

In Star City, while Violet levitates in her sleep, her bunkmate Tara wakes up and sends a message to Santa Prisca – “I’m in”. Deathstroke is pleased to see this. Looks like the Young Justice: Outsiders showrunners are going ahead and adapting the Judas Contract storyline for the show. We’ll have to wait and see when the show returns just how many superheroes the Light’s shenanigans affect.