Young Justice: Outsiders – "Into the Breach"

Director: Vinton Hueck
Writer: Jonathan Callan

After that stirring speech to get the adults to support the Outsiders, we didn't see our heroes again for a month (both in real life and in show time). We pick up with Beast Boy, Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle, Kid Flash, El Dorado and newcomer Victor Stone (above) in Burbank, California, on January 25, 17:16 PST. They have taken the Bio-Ship to investigate Gretchen Goode's television studio, while Miss Martian and the Team hunt for Halo.

Bart points out that the Team already checked out the studio, since it has become pretty obvious that Goode is actually Granny Goodness from Apokolips. But Vic explains that since he's gotten the hang of his Father Box technology, he can essentially tap into every electronic device around the world and — more importantly for this mission — sense Apokoliptan technology. Vic's scouting has identified Goode Studios' Building 16 as a hotspot (this show really needs to dial down its obsession with the number 16). So Gar decided to take the Outsiders there, even though they're missing Static and Geo-Force.

Vic opens a boom tube inside the building and insists on coming along, even though Gar tells him he can wait in the Bio-Ship with Eduardo. But Vic feels he owes it to Violet to try to help save her. Bart does a quick recon of the warehouse and returns with a prop from Gar's TV show. This only makes Gar angry (since he hates having to work for Granny Goodness) and Jaime thinks the idea of aliens with clam-shaped heads is cheesy. Bart writes him off as having no taste, then gets down to business. He checked the whole place twice, but couldn't find anything unusual.

But Vic can sense something strange and he soon reveals a large, menacing machine that had been completely invisible. Bart jokes that this must be "Clamulon" tech, but Jaime's scarab identifies it as Apokoliptan, warning him that such tech is "not compatible." Vic tries to "speak" to the machine, but a boom tube suddenly opens up underneath our heroes, transporting them to a dusty, yellow void that causes them all a tremendous amount of pain.

Jaime's scarab is also overwhelmed by the pain and shuts down to protect itself. This leaves Jaime without his Blue Beetle armor, exposing him directly to the effects of the Void. Eduardo hears their screams and teleports right next to Bart. But before he can pull Bart out, Bart tells him to save Jaime first. So Eduardo tries, but all he can do is teleport to different spots in the void.

Suddenly, a red cube appears around Gar and a second red cube carrying Granny Goodness arrives. She offers Beast Boy the chance to defeat her in single combat for the fate of his friends, and Gar readily agrees. The two red cubes merge into one battle arena, but no matter which animal Gar turns into, he can't stand lay a hit on Granny. However, Vic manages to hack into Granny's personal robotic assistant, Overlord. Fortunately, his battle goes much better than Beast Boy's. Vic takes control of Overlord and teleports everybody back to the studio.

Beast Boy, Kid Flash and Wonder Girl take on Granny Goodness, while Vic and Blue Beetle work on destroying that large machine. Once the machine is disabled, Granny disappears into a boom tube. Vic follows, believing she'll lead him to Violet. But the tube closes before anyone else can join him. Bart then pessimistically sums up their situation: Jaime nearly died, Gar got his butt kicked, Granny escaped, they didn't find Halo and now Vic is missing. He asks if they just lost, and no one is able to answer him.

The Outsiders don't find out what happened to Vic until the next day. At their Hollywood Hub on January 26, 6:54 PST, everyone is licking their wounds in the common room, trying to not let Gar blame himself for their failure. Suddenly, a couple of boom tubes open up, revealing Vic, Violet and the rest of the Team. M'gann announces that the Justice League will soon return to Earth with hundreds of rescued meta-teens, prompting Eduardo to exclaim that the Taos center is going to need more beds and maybe more buildings.

Superboy says Granny got away, but they are confident they shut down her operations. More importantly, Vic obtained video evidence that Gretchen Goode is Granny Goodness. Gar declares him the MVP of this mission, but Vic credits Halo for freeing the Team and League from the Anti-Life Equation. Violet says she wouldn't have been able to do it without Vic, and Gar immediately nominates him to join the Outsiders. The vote is unanimous, but Superboy slows everyone down, saying that they need to make sure Vic actually wants to join them. He reasons that just because he did something heroic today, that doesn't obligate him to become a member of the Outsiders or even M'gann's Team. After a brief speech, Vic decides to join the Outsiders as Cyborg.




I think this was the first and only legitimate mission we saw the Outsiders take part in. This wasn't staged by M'gann and Kaldur or even Lex Luthor. In other words, in 24 episodes of Young Justice: Outsiders, the Outsiders only had one real mission. And even then, they didn't do that much. All the real action was done by Cyborg and Halo — far away from the team that the season is named after. I guess I should be happy with the little bit of Bart Allen this show is giving me, but it's frustrating only having crumbs. And this show will give me one more tiny little crumb.

Next time, the conclusion of Young Justice: Outsiders.