Superman on Television

Young Justice: Episode Reviews

Season 1 - Episode 8: "Downtime"

Rating - 4 (out of 5): I liked how they focused on Aqualad in this episode. There's the ongoing joke that Aquaman is the most difficult character to write for, so his character is made fun of by, well, a lot of people.

I thought the episode started out pretty funny because the entire team is fighting Clayface and Batman comes in to save the day. He uses his Bat-tazer to immobilize and liquidate Clayface. I thought, "Well that was awful fast!" Those episodes in Batman: The Animated Series could have been about 10 minutes total.

It was cool seeing the kingdom of Orin. I have always liked stories that revolve around Aquaman, or Aqualad for that matter. They could have easily not made him the leader but they have written him so well that he seems like a natural fit. He goes back to reunite with old friends and just starts hitting on Tula like nothing else. He probably hasn't had too many body language classes, because he was being pretty dense about Tula hiding something. Then again I can't blame him, he doesn't have a girlfriend up top and cartoon body language is harder to pick up on.

Seeing the rest of the team members in their natural environments was a delight. They didn't focus so much time on them that it detracted from the main plot. The one I enjoyed the most was the interplay between Megan and Superboy. It looked like they either shared a kiss or came really close to it. I'm a bit mushy so I like the romance, even if it's in cartoons. But then again kissing in cartoons always looks weird so maybe it's good we didn't see them kiss.

The fighting in the episode was awesome! Mera unleashes some wicked attacks using water based projections that look like sea monsters. It was cool seeing Atlantean sorcery in action, Aqualad is a fighter and has been away for so long that he has lost touch with his magical abilities.

I gave this episode a 4 out of 5 because there were a few things that seemed out of place. I'm glad that they are including this conglomerate of unseen bad guys in every episode, it gives a SPECTRE feel (from the James Bond movies). But it seems like they are just trying to connect them to every battle Young Justice has. What are the odds that they happened to be involved in a plot involving Atlantis and Aqualad just happens to be there? You could argue they just have their fingers in so many pies that it is inevitable that the battles will involve them, but I think otherwise.

I would have liked to have seen more Aquaman, but that's a minor complaint. Mera made up for his lack of presence with her gigantic octopus projection.

And my final beef was Kaldur (Aqualad) being too stoic. I really like his character but if they aren't careful he will become like a bad mixture of Batman and Aquaman, a character that is humorless and emotionless, and ultimately boring. But that sounds extreme when it's really not that bad.

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