Director: Mel Zwyer
Writer: Brandon Vietti
On the Watchtower on December 4, 19:09 EST, Beast Boy has called a meeting with Aquaman of the Justice League and Miss Martian, Superboy and Tigress of the Team. Joining Gar are Kid Flash, Blue Beetle, Static Shock, Wonder Girl, Geo-Force, Halo, Terra, Thirteen and Forager. Gar gives an impassioned speech about the need for a public version of the Team, citing the Justice League's failing public relations battle against Lex Luthor of the United Nations and Granny Goodness of Goode World Studios. He says that his new team will break the rules the Justice League has to adhere to, all while inspiring a new generation that has grown up under the constant threat of meta-teen trafficking.
Beast Boy shows off the social media buzz his new team caused last week from their heroics in Taos. He says they're on their way to building a revolution free from the Light's interference. Kaldur says he's given them much to think about, but Gar says they're not asking for permission from the League or Team — they were merely giving the older heroes a heads up. Joining Gar's new team are Bart, Jaime, Virgil, Cassie and Brion. The others say they're not quite ready.
Artemis is naturally worried about these six teens choosing to operate in the open like this. Gar points out that he can't hide because of his green skin and Jaime reminds everyone that the Reach exposed him to the world two years ago. Bart says that the world knew Kid Flash during Wally's day and most people assume he is still Wally now — besides, he never understood the need for secret identities. Brion says his kingdom of Markovia and the world already know what he's become, so now he wants to show them who he has become. Cassie and Virgil simply say they wanted to add some diversity to this new squad. Seeing he can't stop them, Kaldur just makes one request: that they continue to covertly answer to the Justice League through Miss Martian, who will still lead the remaining members of the Team. Beast Boy heartily agrees to that condition.
In Hollywood at 17:48 PST, Gar shows off the base for the new squad in the towering Premiere Building in the heart of downtown. Funded by his television salary, Gar calls this place The Hub, and proudly shows off its state-of-the-art computers and enough bedrooms for anyone who wants to stay there — even if they're not a member of the new squad. And so far, the Hub's residents will be Gar, Brion, Tara, Victor Stone, Violet and Fred — basically all the homeless rescues who have been staying with M'gann the past few months. M'gann, however, is worried about letting six teenagers live here unsupervised, so the one adult homeless rescue, scientist Helga Jace, volunteers to act as the Hub's "den mother."
We then jump ahead to December 7, 19:37 PST. Bart is playing against himself in air hockey, while everybody else is just kind of lounging around. M'gann is also there, for whatever reason, and she happens to be on the computer when a live video pops up of an apparent alien invasion in a small town called Brooklyn in Maine. Our heroes recognize the old Reach ship blasting up the town, which Bart angrily declares as "so moded." Beast Boy immediately hits the "troub-alert," which summons the whole squad — several of whom are wary that this might be another one of Gar's drills. Bart assures them this is real and the Reach is back, which also upsets Jaime.
M'gann shows them that Aquaman is on the scene, but as soon as he begins to fight one ship, two more show up. Before too long, Kid Flash is in Brooklyn, helping Kaldur up after a nasty hit. He's followed behind by the rest of the squad, who immediately engage the enemy (see screenshot). They also encounter three teenage girls, who serve as cross between the Scooby-Doo gang and DC's old Newsboy Legion, as they livestream the entire battle.
Luckily, Blue Beetle is able to shut down the Reach ships with a single touch, so the battle isn't too tough. But it is still exciting enough for people all around the nation to tune in, including Jay and Joan Garrick in Central City at 21:51 CST. Unfortunately, it appears that Joan is on her death bed, while Bart is happily boasting of literally crashing the mode of the Reach ships. Bart's friend, Eduardo, is also watching in Taos at 20:52 MST, showing the video to three girls he's working with.
Eventually, all three ships are brought down and their pilots are pulled out. Beast Boy formally introduces the whole squad to the girl "reporters," while Blue Beetle pulls off the masks of the pilots, revealing them to be human members of Intergang. The mayor of Brooklyn, however, is furious that these vigilantes have shown up without having gone through the proper channels and have caused some damage to the town (a single broken window on the library). He demands that the sheriff arrest the teens and Beast Boy orders his team to surrender. The sheriff reluctantly places handcuffs on our heroes, but a much larger Reach ship suddenly arrives, apparently summoned by the other smaller ships.
Even the captured Intergang members are terrified by this huge ship blasting its lasers on the town. They confess they didn't intend to summon it, and urge the mayor to call in the Justice League. But the mayor points out that he's already called the Air Force, which has sent two drones. But the Reach ship immediately destroys the drones. Our heroes worry about the Air Force sending reinforcements, which would likely shoot down the Reach ship, causing it to crash on the town below. But the mayor stubbornly refuses to call in the Justice League, so Kaldur stands by stoically, saying his hands are tied.
Beast Boy orders his time to break free of their handcuffs, promising the mayor that he can arrest them again, after they save his town again. Our heroes promptly fly up into the Reach ship, and Kid Flash races through the entire vessel, finding it to be unmanned. But the ship's computers have targeted the Air Force's reinforcements — two jets that are manned. It's a slightly tense moment, but Blue Beetle is able to take control of the ship and crash it into a nearby frozen pond. Beast Boy then surrenders his team to the sheriff as promised, but the sheriff refuses to arrest them this time, citing the town's Good Samaritan law — statute 1616 (this show is obsessed with the number 16 and I don't know why).
Gar wraps things up with yet another speech that includes the catchy slogans of "Get on board or get out of the way" and "We are all outsiders." And with that, the new squad officially becomes the Outsiders and an online sensation. But unbeknownst to the Outsiders, this whole mission was basically set up by a secret group of Aquaman, Miss Martian, Batman, Wonder Woman and a few others. Kaldur wonders if Beast Boy should join their secret circle, but M'gann insists he's not ready.
It's incredible how this show can completely negate any positive feelings from an episode with the last two minutes. We finally have the Outsiders! They have their own headquarters and everything! And Bart gets to be on the team that this whole season is built around! But wait ... their first mission was a fraud?! None of the "adults in the room" trust our heroes?! And Kaldur and M'gann are involved in ANOTHER super secret cabal, proving that they learned NOTHING from season two, where Kaldur almost was turned into a permanent vegetable?!
Sorry. Had to rant there.
This episode was fine. This new team is kind of fun, although it's a little strange having Beast Boy be the leader. And I got really tired of his monologues. (The dialogue on this show has always been pretty bad, and it only gets worse during prolonged speeches.) The Scooby-Doo theme of this episode was equal parts charming and annoying. And Bart came off as especially stupid in this one. Last season, it came across that he was playing a character, while secretly positioning himself to save the future. In this season, it seems like Bart is genuinely dumb. And I don't like that.
Next time, we'll return to the comics with Young Justice #7.
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