Young Justice: Outsiders episodes 7-9 review: Decoded mysteries
Episodes 7-9 gave us a myriad of new mysteries to stew on while we wait for Friday. However, Young Justice: Outsiders did give us some context into some ambiguous characters. Not to mention, “Evolution,” seems to have solved a popular fan theory.
Episode 7: “Evolution”
The first six episodes of the DC Universe Young Justice: Outsiders has built upon each other. From the conflict and the general narrative, the Outsiders have followed a pretty linear path attempting to track down the meta-human traffickers and rescue the captured teens. Obviously, the third season breaks for a few sporadic flashbacks. However, the first episode of this week’s trilogy, “Evolution,” doesn’t focus on the team’s continued mission to find the syndicate. In fact, the atypical narrative doesn’t really focus on the canon heroes either, instead, it focuses on a villain’s past to ignite the series’ subplot.
Unexpected character development
The series reverts focus back to Vandal Savage to give him a detailed origin story and uses this context in his backstory to help fuel his evolution from periodic heroism to his more notable evil persona. We’ll give it to Young Justice: Outsiders, of all our theories thus far, we definitely didn’t think the series would focus on Savage’s former heroic contributions against the Warworld.
While Outsiders drew inspiration from Savage’s comic book cameos as well as his, albeit brief, origin stories in the Arrowverse and Smallville, this episode weaves Savage’s past with the New Gods. As the episode uses a series of flashbacks to depict how Savage contacted Darkseid and his son, Kalibak, to help fight some intergalactic invaders, it also shares a subplot that reminds us that Savage is a villain despite his sporadic do-goodery.
Take for example the scene where he kills his daughter. Instead of empathizing with her convoluted memory that seems reminiscent of dementia in real-life, Savage takes her life. Though he perceives this as a mercy killing, it shows his nefarious nature, as well as his hidden ableism.
The series intertwines Savage’s origin with some New God lore, particularly with the first visible appearance of Darkseid in the series. (Sorry, M’comm, Darkseid imposters don’t count.) This parallel storyline allows the series to make Vandal Savage a unique incarnation of the character. Beyond injecting his origin with Darkseid, it also confirms a popular theory about the Apokoliptian.
Still from Young Justice: Outsiders episode 7. Image via Warner Bros. TV.
Theories confirmed
That’s right: The theory that all the Young Justice: Outsiders episode titles are actually coded with a spoiler about a certain big bad villain’s cameo appears true. Beyond Darkseid’s entrance in the series, the Darkseid also said the acrostic that the titles spell out, “Prepare the anti-life equation.”
It’s still conspicuous as to why Outsiders would suddenly introduce Vandal Savage’s origin story now. Aside from being a device for her character development, we can assume that Savage’s origin story to becoming the immortal and mostly villainous person could be critical for the future of the series.
Regardless, we’re more concerned with Darkseid’s obsession with controlling all life on every viable planet.