Young Justice: Outsiders season 3, episode 17 recap: First Impression

Beast Boy is tired of fighting in the shadows. He wants the world to know that there are superheroes who are not stymied by bureaucracy in Young Justice: Outsiders.

Garfield Logan/ Beast Boy has called a Young Justice meeting at the Watchtower to make a proposal – create a public-facing version of the young superhero team in an effort to combat the negative press around meta-humans and the Justice League. Lex Luthor has been trying his hardest to paint the League in a bad light, and he is succeeding on Young Justice: Outsiders.

A New Young Justice?

Though Aquaman, Artemis and Miss Martian caution against this move, Garfield already has half the youngsters on his side. As Gar proudly tells senior management, they’d better ‘get on board, or get out of the way’.

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Young Justice is now divided into two squads; the covert team includes Miss Martian, Superboy, Tigress, Halo, 13, Forager, and Terra. While Beast Boy will lead Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle, Kid Flash, Static and Geo-Force in the public team. They’ll still report to Miss Martian and the League, though. Gar is overjoyed. He even has a building ready to take over as their headquarters (in Hollywood, no less) and all the youngsters get their own room. However, Forager still wants to live in their jet.

Dr. Helga Jace agrees to look after the children at their new headquarters. Jace constantly acts like she wants the best for the meta-kids, but she’s a shady character with shady deals, and I don’t think viewers should trust her. Does she really have good intentions when it comes to these kids?

Attack on Brooklyn

Young Justice: Outsiders episode 17 (Credit: DC Universe)

An ‘alien’ attack in Brooklyn sends Garfield’s team scurrying to the rescue. Aquaman is no match for these Reach ships and the young team race in to help. Their antics are captured by several bystanders and streamed across social media for all to see. This is the kind of inspiring message that Gar was hoping to send to the world.

The attack foiled by the team was perpetrated by Intergang, an international organization that deals in alien weapons. Instead of getting the chance to celebrate, though, the mayor of the town demands that Gar and team are arrested for vigilantism. Since Aquaman cannot admit that this Young Justice team works with the Justice League, he has to stand by while the superheroes are handcuffed in front of waiting cameras.

When the human pilots of the Reach ships were apprehended by Young Justice, a distress signal activated a sleeper vessel deep within the Earth. Now that ship attacks Brooklyn and since the mayor is dead set against calling any superheroes, the young team spring into action since they are not governed by any authorities.

Blue Beetle is able to disable the Reach ship and crash it into a deserted park. The townspeople are delighted and even the sheriff refuses to arrest the team again. With a phone camera pointed straight at him, Garfield proudly declares that his team is different from the rest of the superheroes whose every move is dictated by bureaucrats. He refuses to play by the ‘insiders’ rules’ because his team is all outsiders.

Covert Missions

Young Justice: Outsiders episode 14 (Credit: DC Universe)

Artemis, who has been babysitting Halo, Tara, and Lian, thinks the team name ‘Outsiders’ is catchy. What she doesn’t know is that Tara is still in touch with Deathstroke and awaits orders to take down the Outsiders, Young Justice, and the Justice League. He tells her to wait.

The episode ends with Aquaman informing Batman, Red Robin, Nightwing, Oracle, Wonder Woman, and Miss Martian that the sleeper vessel had only recently been liberated from Intergang. They were planning to begin a bidding war by showing off the power of these Reach ships in Brooklyn, which is why Aquaman was there. His mission was to throw the fight so that Garfield’s Outsiders could swoop in and save the day, thereby generating the social media buzz that Gar had promised.

Aquaman feels that Gar should be part of their mission, but Miss Martian doesn’t agree. We still don’t know exactly what Batman’s breakaway group of heroes is up to, but they are definitely investigating something big. We’ll have to wait and see as Young Justice: Outsiders plays out.