Young Justice season 3

So, I finished watching season 3 of Young Justice!

It's not as good as season 1, but it's on par with season 2, in my opinion. It might be a bit more focused than season 2, but it has the same problem, which is: too many characters with too little time dedicated to them, so you don't end up caring about many of them, like all the teenagers at the youth centre. But for the most part it's well plotted, fun to watch, with enough focus on the original season 1 characters to carry the newer main characters. The animation suffers a bit, but the acting is still excellent, and the ideas are well thought through.

To make that specific: themes of the seasons that stand out to me include ethics and laws, and where they do and don't overlap. Is it ever right to do something illegal? Well yes, the heroes of the show are vigilantes, which is illegal. But it gets more nuanced than that. Is it wrong to follow a bad law? Is it ever right to use another person when they can't have all the details you have? Is it wrong to mess with someone's genetics to make them "better", and how much? To fix a hole in their heart? To give them powers that come with both advantages and disadvantages? Who has authority to wield power, and in which ways, and who is responsible for that use and abuse?

Season 3 doesn't give you any answers, but it does want you to consider the ideas.

The plot begins with the Justice League having become subject to UN oversight. Which sounds all right, because now superheroes can't storm into any sovereign nation and assert their authority without oversight. Except that Lex Luthor has become the Secretary General of the UN, and tied up the official heroes in so much red tape that they are effectively useless. Cue some heroes breaking off and forming their own teams outside the authority of the law.

Against this backdrop, young metahumans are being trafficked by criminal enterprises. With Batman and Oracle secretly doing intel work in the background to tackle both the UN and the criminal gangs, Nightwing sets off with a new team to tackle the metahuman trafficking problem. Nightwing's team includes his old team-mates Artemis/Tigress, Superboy, and new ally Black Lightning, along with the brand new heroes Halo, Forager, and Prince Brion of Markovia, exiled from his country for being a metahuman.

In the meantime, Beast Boy is working as an actor and openly metahuman, thanks to his green skin meaning he can't hide who he is. But he has a popular following online and in the public eye thanks to his work on TV (where he can shapeshift on screen, cutting down on special effects for the show he's on). He eventually gets fed up with the machinations around him and sets up his own team to be a young and public superhero team, to inspire new faith in superheroes and help support metahumans. His team includes season 2 characters like Blue Beetle and Impulse/Kid Flash, El Dorado, and the new hero Cyborg. And it is really cool seeing Beast Boy as a leader! I don't think I've ever seen that before, but he's brave, and open, and looks after his friends and teammates. He does a good job.

Season 3 is more politically driven than previous seasons, and it's definitely not for children anymore. And wow does it gets dark there.

Especially the ending. The expressions of horror on the characters' faces are exactly what we (the audience) need to see, because that's where we are too as it all unfolds.

There's a lot more detail to the horror and downsides of vigilante life than in previous seasons. So firstly, the injuries are not hidden so much anymore, characters sometimes die in violent ways, and for example, when Beast Boy gets injured and thrown into the "camera" it leaves a smudge of blood across the screen. It's not gratuitous, it's not every episode, but it does happen, and the show doesn't hide it from us.

But secondly, and more importantly, what makes season 3 dark is the themes. Human trafficking is not exactly a light theme, and a lot of the philosophical ideas behind the season are pretty deep themes to explore.

Things I liked:
- finally some characters in that sprawling cast who are not straight!
- the humour; it's good that there are moments of levity and they're never misplaced
- any Donna Troy makes me happy
- smart characters, behaving like smart people, respecting the intelligence of the audience
- I really like this version of Beast Boy, who is clever and driven, and still wears his heart on his sleeve
- and so much more that's not coming to mind right this moment

I hope season 4 explores ideas of ethics more. Like, in what instances is it okay to take a life? And in an existential extension for the DC universe, what counts as a life? Is it only intelligent life the heroes shouldn't destroy? What about AI? Is it sapience that's the dividing line? In which case, is it wrong to destroy killer robots if they're self-aware?

If I were writing season 4, I'd use the Red Hood and an Outlaws team as a springboard for those questions, since that team does take lives where they have to. I'd also introduce The Authority, if possible (Jenny's probably the same age as the original team, right?) It would play into those themes of the authority to wield power, and also includes characters who had much of their humanity stripped away from them (do they still count as human?), and they are definitely willing to take lives. I'd juxtapose all those different teams with each other, and explore the lines between them: what lines is each character and team willing to cross, and in which circumstances? What divides the light side from The Light?

All up, I enjoyed season 3 of Young Justice. I'm definitely interested in seeing where the next season takes these characters.