Welcome back to week three of Young Justice Outsiders! Are you still in shock that we’re even getting new episodes of this show? Because I definitely am. Hard to believe that next week is the last batch of episodes we’ll be getting until June. No time for tears, though, we have an episode to recap. ‘Evolution’ primarily focuses on the origins of Vandal Savage and how the organization of the Light was initially founded. While that covers the serious side of things, the subplot revolves around a beach training day with our favorite Outsider team. What went down? Let’s find out:
- The Savior Called Vandal Savage: If you were ever curious on how Earth-16’s Vandal Savage came to be, then this is the episode for you. Vandal’s daughter, Cassandra, is given a storybook by his other daughter, Olympia, and is instructed to read all about her father’s rise to power. His journey begins after an attack from a bear who gives him his signature facial scars. We follow along as he becomes the first metahuman and sets up an alliance with Darkseid, finally giving us the essential backstory we needed to understand how it came to be.
- Attack of the Unknown: In tandem with learning about Vandal’s past, we see his present, in which an alien force is set to attack Earth. Funnily enough, because of the Light’s meddling with the Justice League, nobody is able to assist save for Vandal himself. Despite his warnings, they attack the Warworld anyway. He takes matters into his own hands and prepares the Warworld for attack, requesting help from Darkseid to aid in his battle. When the aliens don’t relent to this attack, he discovers that they are a species of star creatures he has battled in the past, in Babylon. Realizing that the bond between father and daughter was what helped to defeat them originally, he gives command of the Warworld to Cassandra and then takes it upon himself to defeat the main star creature himself. Together, they both conquer the fleet and Earth will never know of the attack.
- Dinner and a Nightcap: In one of the oddest pairings this show has given us yet, Jefferson and Dr. Helga Jace go out to dinner. If you felt odd watching this, I am right there with you. She laughs about how she’s having difficulty getting a position in research, but honestly, I’d question the person who would hire her after being involved in a metahuman trafficking syndicate. After dinner, they get a little drunk and go back to Dr. Jace’s room for some more one-on-one bonding.
- Beach Bodies: Nothing’s ever as simple as just a fun day on the beach; at least, not in the YJ verse. It’s finally time to train the Outsiders on how to work as a team. New super-suits, new names, and new powers galore! Well, new powers for Halo, that is. Seems like there’s just an untapped well of potential inside her that only leaves the viewer ever more curious. Forager grows ever more endearing, and it’s nice to see the Outsiders finally learning to use their powers effectively and working together as an efficient team. It’s certainly an improvement over how they worked in ‘Rescue Op’, that’s for sure.
- Death in the Family: Throughout the episode, the growing-senile Olympia continues to worry both Vandal and Cassandra. Olympia has been the one recording all of Vandal’s stories, much to his displeasure. He takes mercy on her and kills her quickly, stating that he couldn’t risk his stories getting out. Not when he has millenia worth of plans to follow through on.
Let us know what you thought of the episode in the comments below and in the forum!
