Young Justice #1.21 “Image” Recap & Review

Synopsis:

“A covert operation against Queen Bee in Qurac forces Miss Martian to finally face her greatest fears and her biggest secrets. But will she reveal those secrets to her friends – or allow what she’s hiding to take down the entire TEAM?”

Recap:

Dinah Lance and Oliver Queen meet up with Batman, Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado at Mount Justice where Batman shows them footage of Conner fighting Dinah – but what surprises them is when, in the video, Dinah suddenly starts making out with Conner.  For a moment, Oliver believes what he sees, but then it’s revealed that Dinah was in fact just Miss Martian in disguise who was having fun with Conner. Martian Manhunter informs that this behavior is something normal at Mars but it doesn’t seem to calm Dinah down who decides to make sure that Megan understands that things are different here on Earth.

Dinah seeks up Megan and explains to her that she needs to avoid that kind of game because it can possibly upset people (in this case, Dinah) and Megan promises not to do it again. The team is then suddenly called for their latest mission by Batman who informs them that the president of Qurac, Rumaan Harjavti, has allied himself with Queen Bee, dictator of Bialya. Harjavti was supporting Queen Bee’s statement that in ancient time, those countries was one nation and was thereby going to reunite the two countries in 48 hours. It doesn’t stop there when they watch the president’s announcement of stepping down as president so that Queen Bee can rule. These actions have caused protests by the citizens of Qurac who wish to keep the two countries separated from each other.

The mission is to find what caused the president’s sudden move since Queen Bee couldn’t be responsible for this as she hasn’t left Bialya. Since Aqualad is away with Aquaman, Batman makes Robin team leader for this mission. The team travels over to Qurac and lands on an animal reserve where a group of wildebeest’s starts running away when military tanks drives through the fence. Not for away, a boy (Garfield Logan) and his mother (Marie Logan) are seen taking care of an Oryx, which is the direction where the wildebeest’s are running towards. The team attacks the soldiers in the tanks plus saving Garfield and Marie. When they later start to chat, it is revealed that Miss Martian admires Marie because of her role on the show “Hello Megan!” which is where Miss Martian’s inspiration for her human appearance came from.

In the Logans’ living room, Garfield informs the other guys that Miss Martian looks exactly like his mom and tells them about the TV show. Outside, Miss Martian fixes the fence through her abilities and chats with Marie about how much she admired her show but to her disappointment, Marie reveals how little she cared for the show which for her, was just a job. While the boys are about to watch the pilot episode of “Hello Megan,” Bialyan drones are heading towards them and starts attacking them. The team fights back and destroys the drones but unfortunately, Garfield – who was instructed by Robin to stay put – gets injured when he releases the animal out of the barn but luckily for him, Miss Martian saves him. Garfield’s injuries were so serious that he needs a blood transfusion immediately from someone with O negative. None in the team has that but Miss Martian manages to morph her blood to match his and he is saved. Later the boys watch an episode of “Hello Megan!” which shows more detailed how similar Miss Martian’s personality is with Megan’s. It also is revealed that her boyfriend on the show is also named Conner. They then switch over to a live broadcast of President Harjavti but in the background, they notice Psimon (last seen in “Bereft”) standing behind him. They believe he is the one who is controlling Harjavti and they decide to take action right away.

At the president’s home, they sneak into the president’s room to save him but are stopped by soldiers that are carrying weapons from Apokolips. Miss Martian, in her camouflage mode, sees Psimon and runs after him. When she gets to an abandoned aula, she is attacked by Psimon. Psimon decides to break her mentally by using his mind abilities to forcefully reveal Miss Martian’s biggest fear and weakness – her true appearance. Against her will, Psimon makes Miss Martian turn into her real form – that of a White Martian. While the boys have defeated the soldiers, they arrive at the aula but before they manage to see what is going on, Miss Martian brain blasts them. Psimon is amused that she is so ashamed over her true form that she is willingly to attack her own team just so that they won’t find out.

Psimon reveals that everything had been recorded and Miss Martian gets furious and they battle within her mind. He manages to use her fear and creates an illusion where she is confronted by her team, the Justice Leaguem and Conner, giving the illusion of their hate, fear and disappointment at her real form. In the illusion she gets banished to Mars and is left alone, which drives Miss Martian over the edge and she defeats Psimon. Moments later, the boys wake up and Miss Martian is back to her human appearance. They don’t remember how they got knocked out and they see Psimon on the other side of the room, lying like an vegetable. The next day, Queen Bee tries to confront the president who is now free of Psimon’s mind control, thereby taking back the decision of uniting the countries – later, it’s revealed that it was just Miss Martian in disguise. Back at Logan Farm, the boy asks Miss Martian out about “Hello Megan!” and why she wanted to look like Megan. She reveals that back at Mars, her childhood wasn’t a good time, and when she started watching the show that her uncle J’onn sent to her from Earth, she felt an connection and also an inner happiness which is why she decided to look like Megan. They ask what she really looks like, and she reveals to them her “true” form; bald with her skull morphed into almost same form that her uncle has. She is comforted by Marie who feels honored that Miss Martian got inspired from her and is to her and also calls her “family.” Miss Martian then goes to Garfield’s room to visit him but is surprised to find Queen Bee there, sitting next to a sleeping Garfield. She threatens to make him hurt himself if Miss Martian reveals that she is there. She also reveals that she knows about her true form and threatens to expose her to everyone unless Miss Martian agrees to cooperate with her.

Review:

This week’s episode focused on one of the main characters – this week it was Miss Martian. Like Artemis, she carries a mysterious secret, but I had no idea that it was this big. Watching that scene when she is brutally transformed into her real form was actually really painful to watch. I will admit that I don’t know much about Miss Martian in the comics but I’m happy that I didn’t find out that she is a White Martian until the episode aired.

As sad as it was to see Miss Martian being tortured like that and also blackmailed by Queen Bee, I think putting her into that position was a really interesting thing for the writers to do. It was also in a way of reflecting the same kind of pressure that Artemis was given in “Inflitrator.” When Queen Bee showed up in the end and I remembered her part in “The Light,” it actually got even more interesting; especially when she decided to blackmail Miss Martian. I’m really looking forward to see how it will end.

I also enjoyed the callbacks and references to previous episodes of this season, such as Psimon (from “Bereft”), weapons from Apokalips (“Disavowed”), Queen Bee (“Revelation”), and M’gann’s fear of turning white (“Disordered”).

“Image” was a really well written episode and I really enjoy these individual-member episodes because it really gives you a chance to look deeper within the characters. I enjoyed that Robin finally got a chance to lead when Aqualad was off helping Aquaman. While he did a decently good job, I think that he still has a lot to learn. The fanboy within me can’t wait for next week’s episode!