Young Justice: Outsiders episode 20 review: Closure, quiet, and New God tech

Last week’s Young Justice: Outsiders episode gave us a plethora of sad moments. From Brion and Halo’s falling out to Halo’s ominous note, “Quiet Conversation” gives us some resolutions this week.

After last week’s tense conversation between Brion, Tara, and Violet, we’ve been mentally preparing ourselves for more anguish on Young Justice: Outsiders. Although we just want one episode where the titular team doesn’t have to worry about various threats, Y“Quiet Conversation” gives us closure on last week’s cliffhanger, as well as the return of a character who has been MIA.

Closure is largely the theme this week. Beyond Halo’s bucket-list-esque excursion, “Quiet Conversation” connects each consecutive story with some personal insight. As we learn more about Harper, Violet, Kaldur’ahm, and Victor, the episode connects their stories with a common theme. Creating this tandem plot structure doesn’t just serve as a way for the episode to transition between each character’s point of view. It also helps draw similarities to the growing meta-human family.

Even though their divergent experience, they’re been through a lot. Harper’s harrowing story intertwines with Vic’s medical crisis. And Halo’s return to the team syncs up with Vic’s recovery. As the episode established more New God lore on the show, connections are the stronger point this week.

Halo and Vic no longer have the unspoken connection through their Motherbox and Fatherbox (respectively), seeing as Vic is now enhanced with Mobius tech. Like most of the episode, nefarious undertones run thorughout Mobius’ introductory scene.

Mobius only became interested in helping Vic after he learned of his Fatherbox tech. Like Dr. Jace’s vague phone call that made her leave the room mid-way through the episode, there is some villainous intent in these two scenes.

While all of these ambiguous cues and chats likely setup impending arcs, these scenes also build our suspense and keep us watching the series. Now, we just have the added bonus of rewatching previous episodes to make sure we haven’t missed an ominous clue that ties into the present plot.

However, not all the ties-ins this week lend to villainous arcs. As Halo says goodbye to her old family (well, Gabrielle’s family), Harper gets a new family. And it’s conveniently with the Harper-Crock household.

Overall, the episode seamlessly connects all the unspoken and softspoken details and conversations with each other to make the narrative seem more personal. Because the character-driven arcs parallel one another, this week’s narrative trifecta feels like one story. And it should feel like one story, given the familial nature of the Outsiders team.

As per usual, there are some moments that we had to happily rewind and some that we’re still pondering:

• How long was Victor gone? We know he was benched from the Outsiders team, but when did he leave the team base. And why was Forager the only team member who seemed concerned about his disappearance? Seriously, we love Forager’s friendship with Vic (even though Vic isn’t yet convinced of their friendship), but Fred was the only character who was actively looking for him.
• The tension surrounding Vic’s Fatherbox fiasco easily explained how the Fatherbox tech spreads as a physical defense mechanism. Whenever Silas irritated or stressed Vic out, Fatherbox responded to that stressor and duplicated its tech.
• Why did Jace say, “Find Halo before it’s too late?” What is so important about Violet’s current predicament that Jace needs to find her now? It will be interesting to see what she’s scheming.

Wishing for an entire episode where the Outsiders aren’t harmed or stressed is definitely too ambiguous. Thankfully, the episode ended on an upbeat quiet moment. And yes, we’re talking about Kaldur and Wyynde’s kiss during the moving panels. Beyond seeing Kaldur’s accept his sexuality and himself (even if it’s during an unspoken moment), it’s a relief to see the show has incorporated his canon gay identity.

Now, we just have to prepare ourselves for the Judas Contract. After her phone call with Deathstroke, we can assume Tara/Terra’s shenanigans aren’t far away.