After a solid beginning with “Tale of Two Sisters”, Young Justice: Phantoms continues Artemis’ arc with another interesting, well-crafted episode. Through heartbreaking flashbacks, comedic moments and a powerful fight sequence, “Artemis Through the Looking Glass” takes the audience further into Artemis and Jade’s relationship while still keeping viewers on their toes in regards to the mole plot, with a few other surprises left in store. If you haven’t yet seen this episode, please stop what you’re doing and go watch it, because the sixth episode of the season is truly Young Justice at its best.
“Artemis Through the Looking Glass” begins immediately after “Tale of Two Sisters”; sort of. It launches first into a flashback, taking place a little while after Jade has left Artemis. A broken and battered Artemis is skeptical as to why her sister is there, and then the flashback segues back into the present. Jade seems pretty unreceptive to what Artemis has to say— that is, until Artemis mentions that the Shadows have managed to track her down to the house, the same house where Jade’s daughter lives. With her daughter’s life potentially at stake, Jade begrudgingly agrees to help Artemis out with her mole problem.
After a very entertaining meeting with Artemis’ new boyfriend, Jason Bard, Jade and Artemis trade notes. While intel on Cassandra Savage is right on the money, Onyx is still a mystery. Either way, none of them are proving to be particularly trustworthy just yet. In a previous scene, Looker attempted to psychically read both Onyx and Cassandra, but Orphan points out that Shadows are trained to avoid psychic interrogations. After receiving all this information, Jade agrees to interrogate them using her own tricks, one former Shadow to another.
Meanwhile, in a very depressing B-story, Garfield is back on Earth. He’s been sleeping a lot, resting and recovering from the crushing news that Conner is now gone. In between sleeping and replaying the video from Conner’s memorial service, he attempts to watch TV, only to learn that Prince Brion is full on welcoming metahumans to Markovia, highlighting the refugee crisis that Perdita had from a credits scene in episode 2. With public fear from Brion’s decree, people have been rushing to Vlatava— no wonder Perdita is so stressed.
Back at Green Arrow’s vault, Cheshire interrogates Onyx and Cassandra, with Orphan and Artemis on watch. While both their stories are solid, Jade still doesn’t trust either of them, but announces her initial job is done. Unfortunately, they’re interrupted by the entrance of Black Spider and Rictus, who attack the group and attempt to kidnap Cassandra. A very entertaining fight ensues, but ultimately, Lady Shiva ends it by appearing and kidnapping Orphan, instructing the group to bring Cassandra Savage to Santa Prisca in exchange. The villains disappear with the help of Shade, much to Jade’s surprise, considering she freed him in ‘Triptych’ last season.
While Cassandra immediately offers to go to Santa Prisca alone, Artemis is insistent on going as a group and rescuing Orphan together. Jade is firmly against this idea, especially once she reveals that Orphan is actually Cassandra Wu San, Lady Shiva’s daughter who has been muted and trained from birth to be a living weapon. Despite Jade’s protests, Artemis is set on going to rescue her, bringing Onyx and Cassandra with her. She asks Jade to go with them, but Jade refuses, claiming that they’re all “mad as hatters”. Artemis, Onyx and Cassandra are on their own.
The C-story is interwoven throughout the episode, a follow-up on Jade and Artemis’ childhood. Jade shows up an undetermined amount of time after leaving Artemis behind, having hit a rough spot and needing food. Their father, however, catches them, and intimidates Jade to get on her way without help. Lucky for her, she uses a code word she and Artemis came up with, and they meet on the rooftop later to exchange goods— food for Jade (freeze dried chicken whizzies!), and a book for Artemis. Jade promises to return the next night with money to restock, and even though Artemis waits for her, she never shows. Lawrence ends up catching her, punishing her for helping Jade by making her train on an empty stomach.
While we felt the previous episode struggled to juggle several strong storylines, “Artemis Through the Looking Glass” doesn’t share the same issues. The stories all feel well-balanced and equally intriguing, interweaving bits of comedy with the harder to swallow, painful elements. The humor this episode definitely takes liberties with the more mature rating, and while it was surprising to hear such on-the-nose jokes, it’s not unwelcome, and definitely fits the characters who said them. When it comes to the mystery of the moles, we love how this arc (and the previous) takes the ‘simmering pot’ approach, where the plot thickens and things slowly but steadily start coming together. With Artemis, Cassandra and Onyx heading for Santa Prisca next episode, we’re sure things will reach a steady boil, fast.
Just like the previous episode, this one also excels in character development. Everyone gets a little bit of the spotlight here, from Cassandra Wu San to Jason Bard. We loved learning more about these previously minor characters, all the little details that there wasn’t time to show in the previous season. While many people are on the fence about the character-focused arcs, we’re completely on board with giving certain groups their time to shine before moving on to others.
Other welcome notes include all the minor callbacks that suddenly make sense. Jade introducing Artemis to Vietnamese Literature, the music playing in Artemis’ car being the music from the Superboy tribute video— all these little details help the episode and the characters feel more fleshed out and memorable.
In addition, we would be remiss not to mention the stellar fight scene between Black Spider, Rictus, Onyx, Cheshire, Tigress, Orphan and Cassandra Savage. Many have noted that the Mars arc lacked significant action, and the sequence in this episode more than made up for it. Additionally, the animation and art style this episode were phenomenal, we can only imagine how hard the artists, storyboarders, character designers and other various crew members worked to make it come to life.
Young Justice: Phantoms has been delivering standout episode after episode, with “Artemis Through the Looking Glass” being a top contender. If the remainder of the season keeps delivering in this manner, Phantoms may be the best season yet. We’re sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for the remainder of Artemis’ arc, with high anticipation of what’s to come.
What did you think of “Artemis Through the Looking Glass”? Craving some Chicken Whizzies? Excited about the new twist on Cass’ character? Praying that everyone ends up happy and okay at the end? Let us know in the comments, our forums, or on our Twitter!
