Well things sure escalated in a hurry with the final episode of the Young Justice: Outsiders season. Every character that has had some form of development over the course of this season played a role in “Nevermore.” To the show’s credit almost every character came across better or more intriguing when all was said and done. That is for one major character, whose choices end up turning his entire arc into one that he is not made better by.
Much like “Into The Breach”, “Nevermore” was another strong showing of how far the Outsiders have come during the second half of this season. Being joined by The Team this time around gave greater importance to the mission the Outsiders were leading. It all came together with how effectively both teams were able to work together to defeat Baron Bedlam in such a quick fashion. This was a great example as to why both the Outsiders and Team are needed to help all these young characters grow into heroes on the level of the Justice League.
Having the Terra betrayal storyline hanging over the head of the mission created even more tension throughout the first half of “Nevermore.” There was a constant wait for when Deathstroke would make the call to Terra to execute Beast Boy in front of everyone. The payoff to all this worked extremely well as we were completely swerved in the fact that Artemis and the others training with Terra ended up being the deciding factor. Terra going against Deathstroke’s orders showed that all the time spent in developing Terra’s relationship with Artemis and the rest of the team meant something. It all played into the viewers emotions, especially those who have read the iconic “Judas Contract” storyline from the Teen Titans.
Terra’s decision to go against Deathstroke’s orders creates even greater interest in where her character could go in the next season. Especially with her brother, Geo Force, becoming King of Markovia it places Terra in an even tougher spot. Having her other older brother, Gregor Markov, as her legal guardian will help give the possibility of Terra’s life outside the team to be explored more.
Unfortunately the same level of interest does not exist when it comes to Geo Force. When it comes to the Young Justice: Outsiders season there has not been a character that has been more all over the map than Geo Force. The character more often than not has come across as an emotional asshole. There have been a few instances where Geo Force has been able to shine. But those episodes were way too far in between for Geo Force to be a character to be into.
The failure in Geo Force’s overall character development made it tough to feel bad for him when you see how he is being manipulated by The Light. When all is said and done Geo Force made the decision that was in his character to make. And the reaction he gets from Halo, Terra and the others was all deserved. There was no point were you felt sorry for how Geo Force felt betrayed. With Geo Force set-up to play a major role in The Light’s plan there will be an uphill battle next season to make him a character to want to see turn things around.
As for The Light, it was great that after three season we finally saw The Team and Justice League finally get a major victory against them. Our heroes have been up against the wall for far too long and it was about time they turned the tables on The Light, who held all the cards up to this point. Superboy ending up to be the key in all of this was a fantastic payoff that goes back to the very first episode of Young Justice. Because the weapon Lex Luthor created to replace Superman ended up being what led to his and The Light’s downfall.
This also helps wrap up a major part of Superboy’s development throughout the entirety of the show. Moving forward, Superboy has fully embraced who he is. He is no longer living in the shadows of Superman. He is now his own hero who can be seen as a beacon for others to look up too. Hopefully now we will see Superboy step up even more as we did get hints at how he could be a great motivator for others when needed.
As things wrapped up it was smart to use the victory over The Light in “Nevermore” as a reset point for all our heroes. The further we got into the last two seasons, Invasion and Outsiders, we have seen both the Justice League and Team move away from being the symbols of hope for the world. They have resorted to tactics that would be appropriate for villainous group that The Light are rather than being superheroes. Even characters like Wonder Woman, who has objected to Batman and Aquman’s choices, did end up going along with the shady plans being done.
But with the Outsiders showing that the world wants to cheer for their heroes it was time for the Justice League and Team to get back to what they are supposed to be. Everyone realizing this was a great step forward for everyone. Keeping the Team as a group where the younger, less experienced heroes can grow was a smart move. We already have the Justice League and Outsiders to act as the public facing teams the younger heroes can eventually join. There is even a possibility of other hero groups rise up in the future.
The one part in this move that did not completely work was Black Lightning’s role as the new head chairman of the Justice League. While he definitely stepped up huge in “Nevermore” his character arc throughout this season did not necessarily point to him being the best one for the role. At no point have we seen him be a strong leader on Nightwing’s team or even mentor to Static Shock. Showing hints of Black Lightning’s leadership in prior episodes would made his nomination come across as a bigger deal.
All that said, what did work about Black Lightning becoming the Justice League’s head chairman was how his role was summarized. Giving him the label of the conscious of the superhero community summarizes well what role he will now be serving as the overall leader of the Justice League. He is the guy that will keep everyone in check. We even get hints at that with how he talked in a motivating fashion during his speech and quickly put Batman in his place.
This new role for Black Lightning positions him to have an even bigger arc as he still has to deal with Dr. Jace’s betrayal. Positioning her to be one of the people that is counselling Geo Force creates their future reunion to be an explosive one. It may even turn out to be one that ends up deciding how things go next season from all sides.
Another interesting plotline that was set-up with this final episode was The Light reforging their alliance with Darkseid. With how things turned out with them after Darkseid gained the Anti-Life Equation it is clear The Light will be even more on their guard than before. What that ends up meaning for the direction of the next season will be interesting to see. Because we can end up going down the route of getting a storyline that is inspired by Geoff Johns’ Justice League: Darkseid War event.
When all was said and done “Nevermore” was not a perfect finale for Young Justice: Outsiders. There were a lot of incredible character moments for Superboy, Terra, Black Lightning and other characters that more than made up for the disappointment with Geo Force’s character. The ending montage gives a lot of hope for what will happen moving forward, especially if we get a payoff for the quick tease of the Legion of Super-Heroes involvement in the next season.
Episode Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10
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2 thoughts on “Young Justice: Outsiders Episode 26 “Nevermore” Review”
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Honestly, I feel the exact opposite when it comes to Terra and Geo Force. Brion’s character arc of growing less impulsive and more rational has not always been at the forefront, but you see it in how he handled the complications with Halo, his minor bits and pieces with the Outsiders, it was definitely there and came to a head back in Terminus. I did feel shock at his heal turn and sympathy upon discovering how he’d been manipulated and was suitably creeped out when Jace returned
Terra’s heel-turn might’ve worked better if Anti-Social Pathologies didn’t end with her reaffirming her position. Nothing has changed since then, aside from the fact Artemis knew the whole time, I guess that could make her re-evaluate but I feel the point would’ve been stronger if they’d allowed her to connect the dots and realise Deathstroke and DeLamb are all part of the same unit, so Deathstroke technically betrayed her too.
I’ll be interested to see how big of a role Geo Force and Terra serve in the next season. The show phases out characters each season except for the original Team.