Episode Review: Young Justice "Schooled" : Episode 1.05

'If dislike is the opposite of like, is disaster the opposite of aster?' - Robin

Well, to paraphrase Superboy in this weeks episode, 'I am totally feeling the 'aster'.

I think it's safe to say that Young Justice has already done things with the team superhero format that neither Teen Titans or Justice League ever did. There's a richness to the character dynamics between Super Heroes that usually plays out solely in the realm of the costumed escapades. Unless your name is Smallville, in which case the costumes are an afterthought. My memory of Justice League may be a little hazy, but I don't recall them ever exploring what these people are like out of costume. That sort of stuff was kept for shows about the individuals. You didn't want to see Bruce Wayne hanging out at Watchtower, you want to see Batman. Teen Titans always had our heroes 'in character' and in costume, whether they were in the field or watching movies in their ridiculous T shaped headquarters.

Young Justice says, 'we've written that before and you guys have seen it before'. So by episode five, a series centred around the teenage heroes indulges in a quiet moment between Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent in a diner (in civvies), discussing the complex paternal relationship that needs to form between Kent and his clone, Superboy. In another show, this conversation would have happened on a rooftop, and in costume. For the first time I realise how absurd it is for these Gods amongst men to make every little conversation more melodramatic than it needs to be; in outer space, or in a hollowed out mountain, or a Bat-cave. It makes so much more sense for this intimate moment to take place between the two real people, as opposed to their public personas. They're all friends after all right? The exchange itself is superb, succinctly defining the two characters and their differing approach to the dilemma of a perpetually pissed off Superboy (with a cute gag involving Clark and Bruce ordering Apple Pie and Devils Food Cake, respectively) The banner at the top of the review may say Young Justice but I'm certain this series will encompass as much (maybe more) of the DC Universe as any one series before it.

I've sort of deviated from actually explaining what the hell this episode is about, but that quiet moment between two of DCs biggest characters in the middle of a show about angsty super powered teens was a bit of a shocker. It's not like I was completely blindsided, Greg Weisman is behind the curtain after all, but I was not expecting them to start layering on this sort of depth to the world this early on in the series' run.



To backtrack a little, 'Schooled' (a title that plays as a nice pun later in the ep) starts with a random disaster in Metropolis. Bruce Wayne notices from his office (why is he in Metropolis? who knows) and is about to intercede when Superman arrives on the scene. While Big Blue gets is holding up a bridge, Superboy arrives to lend a hand, but he's a bit of a force of nature, almost buckling the bridge with his ground shaking entrance. It's clear he means well, and when he reaches out for guidance from his genetic father, Superman acts like a total dick and ditches him. It's this act of disregard that the coffee shop confrontation between Bruce and Clark is about, and its refreshing to see Bruce as the character who can relate to humanity (and children), rather than Clark being his usual Boy Scout self.

Superboy takes his anger home and gets absolutely schooled by Black Canary during a sparring session. I'm glad to see Canary taking on the teacher role and look forward to seeing how this plays out, particularly in the way they used her injuries to introduce the episodes B storyline (assuming Superboy learning his lesson is the A storyline). Batman briefs the team on their mission to escort the components of Professor Ivo's android Amazo to two locations. We get a few more League member cameos and we're off.

It would seem that every cartoon has to do a Road Warrior action sequence at some point. Here we've got Ivo's M.O.N.Q.I.s attempting to retrieve Amazo from the two trucks with the divided Young Justice team attempting to stop them. Everybody gets some great moments that also manage to fit in perfectly with their characters. Superboy rushes into it headfirst, with something to prove, and ends up getting whupped in the process. Robin, the professional, responds expertly. M'Gann does her best, Wally kind of shows off a little and Kaldur plays it cool. Credit is due to whoever animated the sequence with M'Gann morphing out some extra arms to punch away the robots. Wally's reaction to the arm from her head, and her reaction to his surprise was a fantastic moment. In addition to being animated brilliantly, it adds a great layer to any further flirting from Wally.

'You're Ivo? I'm whelmed.' - Superboy (awesome callback to episode 1).

The knockdown battle between Amazo and Superboy, and then later the whole team in Robin's high school, is... fucking... awesome. Brandon Vietti's influence can definitely be felt on the series in regards to the character designs, with Amazo echoing the design from Batman: Under the Red Hood. I don't know how purists feel about it, but I really liked it how he announces which hero he's drawing powers from. I always thought Amazo had access to them all at once, so it was cool to have it dialled back a bit. Having to take down enemies bigger and stronger than you, with wits and a cool temper, will probably be a recurring theme to the series, which is great. It's one of the things I prefer about Batman to Superman (and something I think the writers have picked up on as well). Batman is usually outmatched when it comes to power, but not skills or smarts. Superman is supposed to be super-smart too, but he usually relies on his strength, so its a great dichotomy. Our Young Justice heroes are like Batman in that sense, and it's all ably demonstrated in the way they stop Amazo.

Michael Chang this week is the director and credit must be given for the way it flowed. Like the previous episodes, 'Schooled' perfectly balances those lighter moments of action and character dynamics with the big dramatic action and character growth. It's hard to compare it to the works of old masters like Boyd Kirkland (RIP), Bruce Timm or Kevin Altieri because animation has come such a long way since the early days of Batman: TAS. There's definitely a new and exciting group of animation directors who have been emerging the past few years. Sam Liu and Lauren Montgomery have basically been ruling the direct-to-dvd movies for DC and Marvel, with usually excellent results. Brandon Vietti's work on Red Hood was superb and the influence is felt here. Michael Chang and Jay Olivia are ones to keep an eye on. Joaquim Dos Santos' work on the DC Showcase, JLU, Avatar and GI Joe: Resolute is breathtaking in it's action, detailed in its design work and fluid in its storytelling. With fellow Avatar: The Last Airbender vets Dave Filoni, Giancarlo Volpe and Ethan Spaulding all continuing to create fantastic work I truly believe we're entering some sort of new age for Western televised animation. This is probably better left for another column though. Leave a comment about it and maybe I'll write up some sort of retrospective on animation directors, who usually get so little credit for what they do.



I'll dole out my opinions on various performers and details throughout the run of the series, but I'll start now by saying that Nolan North, Jesse McCartney and Bruce Greenwood are some of the best additions to the DC verse in a long time. I know that North has worked for DC before, but his Superboy is pitch perfect. Jesse McCartney's sarcastic but strong performance as Robin is perhaps my favourite sounding Robin yet. Bruce Greenwood though, deserves to be singled out for his Batman. Both in Schooled and Drop Zone he's had a subdued presence, a quiet smokiness to the voice that imparts a sense of authority, wisdom and a little intimidation. It throws into stark relief the absurdity of Christian Bale's Batman voice. If you include Batman: Under the Red Hood (and since Greenwood voiced Bats in that, why wouldn't you), I'm willing to say that Greenwood's Batman is second only to Kevin Conroy (who will probably always be number 1).

I am so 'whelmed that this show is such an 'aster. I'm so 'concerted with the 'turbing nature of it all!