Young Justice: Episode 3 (Welcome to Happy Harbor)

Episodes 1 & 2 Review here.
Massive spoilers behind the cut.


We open to Star City. To my dismay, Speedy is there to bust up a group of thugs. There's a cool shot of a gun being dropped, and a character kicks it upwards and catches it. We find out that Speedy has done this before, and the ringleader is annoyed that Green Arrow is not getting involved. Young Justice shows up. The ringleader apparently has superstrength, and simply ignores any blows he receives. Eventually, he's taken down by Speedy, who uses a foaming arrow to trap him.

Speedy is offered a chance to join Young Justice, but thankfully he doesn't take it. Instead, he lectures the group and whines more about how unfair the Justice League is before leaving. Cut to opening.

One note about the starting: a female archer named Artemis appears in the team shots. I'm disappointed that it's not Arrowette, but I'm avoiding spoilers at this time, so I know nothing about her aside from her name. Given how annoying I find Speedy, I really hope she gets a lot more screen time than him (even though she hasn't appeared yet).

We cut to Mount Justice, where Robin and Kid Flash teleport in while wearing their civvies. Likewise, Miss Martian, Aqualad and Superboy are also wearing civilian clothes. Red Tornado arrives outside the mountain, and Young Justice is disappointed to find out that he doesn't have a mission. Red Tornado suggests that spending time together is an important team building exercise and tells them that they'll be tested soon enough.

Miss Martian tries to read Red Tornado's mind to find out what he's thinking, but he's an android so it doesn't work. It's obviously done for exposition purposes, but it only takes a few seconds, and it shows that Miss Martian really has no concept of manners when it comes to reading others' minds.

Miss Martian plays tour guide, showing the group around. (She and Superboy are living at Mount Justice.) Mount Justice used to be Justice League HQ, but it's location was discovered. Miss Martian is worried about this, but she's assured that they're hiding in plain sight. Anyone want to take bets on whether this will be important in later episodes?

They get interrupted when they smell smoke. Turns out Miss Martian was making cookies. Miss Martian seems to have telekinesis, which she uses to get the cookies out of the oven without touching them. The cookies look like charcoal, but Kid Flash eats some anyway.

They exchange civilian names, except for Robin, who isn't allowed thanks to Batman. For the curious, Kid Flash is Wally, Aqualad is Kaldur'ahm or Kaldur to his friends, and Miss Martian's name is M'gann M'orzz and she's adopted "Megan" as her Earth name. Superboy starts to walk out, and M'gann telepathically assures him that they'll find him a name. Superboy gets ticked by her using telepathy on him. M'gann is shown to be completely confused why it's not appropriate, since telepathy is normal on Mars.

M'gann then takes them to see her bioship. They take it out for a joyride, and it's shown to respond to her thoughts. While in the ship, Kaldur correctly guesses that Superboy regrets blowing up at M'gann but doesn't know how to make things right. He suggests that Superboy simply say that he's sorry.
M'gann shows off her shapeshifting powers, turning into female versions of Robin and Kid Flash. Wally's response? "Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" Wally, tattooing "I like Miss Martian" on your forehead would be more subtle.

M'gann says that mimicking boys is harder, and that she can't pass through objects like Martian Manhunter can. But she can make her ship invisible. Red Tornado contacts them and sends them on a mission to the Happy Harbor Power Plant (which was apparently within a few seconds of their position). A tornado hits the ship, but they manage to land.

Robin immediately vanishes with a creepy laugh. The others arrive to find him knocked backward by the person attacking the plant. He's a red and black robot who identifies himself as Mr. Twister. Note that Robin and Kid Flash are in civilian garb, which seems like a really bad way to try and keep their identities secret. (The other three don't really have secret identities, at least not at the moment.)

Mr. Twister is disappointed to be attacked by "children" instead of a superhero, and asks where their adult supervision is. The group get knocked around by Mr. Twister's wind powers. Kid Flash gets blown backward, but caught by Miss Martian's telekinesis. Annoyingly, she calls him "Wally." Darn it, writers. Quit having the main characters be so stupid about their secret identities!

Mr. Twister reveals that his plan is to attract a superhero. Kaldur tells Miss Martian to read Mr. Twister's mind, but she gets nothing. She then declares that Mr. Twister must be Red Tornado in disguise. The others are annoyed to have Red Tornado trick them like that and confront Mr. Twister. Mr. Twister then generates a storm with lightning. Something that Red Tornado can't do. He calls it "ironic" that they think he's Red Tornado, and quickly disables the group.

Miss Martian puts her cloaked ship in between Mr. Twister and the group, hiding them. Mr. Twister leaves. Superboy accuses Miss Martian of deliberately lying to them about Mr. Twister being Red Tornado, and the others say that it was a "rookie mistake" and suggest that she stay behind while they go after Mr. Twister. Yes, leave the flying, telepathic, telekinetic, shape-shifting member of your group behind. She obviously has no useful skills to contribute.
Mr. Twister reeks havoc on the nearby town, using twisters to send boats flying and demolish buildings in an attempt to get attention. Young Justice confronts him, but he calls them a distraction. Cut to Miss Martian, who is in her bioship communicating with Red Tornado. Red Tornado says that if he came it wouldn't be to help, and calls Mr. Twister's powers an "odd coincidence." She comes up with a plan to deal with Mr. Twister. (She announces this by saying "Hello, Megan!" for about the third time this episode. I hope this doesn't become a catch phrase. It's a bit annoying.)

Mr. Twister is clearly more powerful than the group, dodging bombs from Robin and tossing the other members around. Again, we get a nice fight scene, as the heroes get their butts kicked. Miss Martian talks to them telepathically and asks them to trust her.

Red Tornado flies in and tells the group to leave. Mr. Twister and Red Tornado throw some twisters back and forth before Mr. Twister hits Red Tornado with some electricity. Mr. Twister then attaches some wires to Red Tornado saying that "the reprogramming won't take long." Red Tornado's head becomes Miss Martian's. So boys forms are hard, but robot forms are easy?

Kid Flash had generated the twister with his powers, and the others use the element of surprise to knock Mr. Twister around. What's left of Mr. Twister falls to the ground and a skinny man falls out. Miss Martian drops a huge rock on him before Aqualad can stop her. Robin gets ticked. "I don't know how it's done on Mars, but on Earth, we don't execute our captives!" Miss Martian then reveals that the man was an android.

We cut to a Professor with a thin mustache and a man named Bromwell. The unnamed professor - who is probably meant to be Red Tornado's creator, T.O. Morrow - is pleased with what they've learned and doesn't seem at all upset that Mr. Twister got pulverized.

At Mount Justice, the group are talking with Red Tornado. The group is concerned that Mr. Twister was obviously meant to attack Red Tornado. Red Tornado says "This was your battle. I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you. Nor should you solve mine for me." Red Tornado turns to leave. Robin points out that other heroes would have stepped in, and decies that if they have to have a babysitter a "a heartless machine" is probably best. Hey, that's one of my favorite characters you're dissing, bird boy.

Red Tornado corrects him. (He has a carbon-steel alloy heart, so the statement is inaccurate). Robin apologizes, and Aqualad suggests that Robin be more respectful in the future.

Superboy says "sorry" to Miss Martian, and the episode ends.

Ending Thoughts: This was a good episode, although not quite as good as the first two. We get some nice hints at future storylines, and get the chance to see the group bond as a team. My only serious complaint is that the group really needs to be better about hiding their identities. Miss Martian, Aqualad and Superboy don't have secret identities at this point, but Robin and Kid Flash should really know better. I hope this becomes a plot point later rather than just being ignored.

I'm really hoping Red Tornado's wife and daughter show up at some point. It's likely they don't exist in this series, but it would be nice if they did. (His adoptive daughter Traya is adorable.)