About a month back, I made my first video on Young Justice. I wasn t expecting a big response,
I was just trying to support the MoreYoungJustice hashtag, but, well that video ended up being,
by far, my best performer in about 4 months. And that video was all about an episode from
season 1 named Failsafe , and why in retrospect, it s a much more significant chapter of the Young
Justice story than it seems. I mentioned in that video that I had no idea what the fan
consensus was on Failsafe, but, personally, I thought it was a great episode. And when
the video hit the algorithm, and comments from Young Justice fans came pouring in, I learned
that while Failsafe is viewed as a highlight of the show that s due in part because of what
it does to set up the next episode, the episode my comment section was calling
THE BEST episode of Young Justice. And that s an episode named Disordered. In this episode,
individual members of the team, traumatised from the failed simulation of Failsafe,
attend a series of counselling meetings with Black Canary, while Superboy has a bit of an adventure
with the Forever People. In this video, then, we re going to take a closer look at Disordered,
and ask the question why do so many people view this as the best episode of Young Justice?
The most obvious place to start looking for an answer is with, well, you guys.
Looking through the comments on that last video, the ones mentioning Disordered one idea that pops
up more than any other is that what makes this episode so good is the way it covers
the fallout and trauma from Failsafe the story in which the team, and everyone they love, are
killed off one by one inside a botched training simulation, in which the team are convinced that
everything s happening for real. The dominant opinion seems to be that it s the therapy scenes
in Disordered which make the episode great and particularly the way these scenes break
down and reveal so much about our characters. But is that the whole story? I don t think so, not
quite. So let s take a closer look at the episode, and see if we can figure out just
what works so well here. We open in a shaken and distressed mount justice. The team are not
themselves. And Batman s confused why they haven t shaken off the events of Failsafe just yet (clip)
Now Martian Manhunter s right, of course. Trauma tends to linger. But that s not the whole story. I
want to make two points about the trauma shown by each member of the team in this episode,
and how Disordered navigates these trauma. First, I d like to point out that the damage
we see in our young heroes isn t just from the events of Failsafe. Failsafe only brought this
damage to the surface. The second point I want to make, though, is that this episode doesn t just
break our characters down, analyse their flaws and traumas. It moves our characters past them. Or,
starts to, at least. To show you what I mean, I d like to go through each of the team in turn,
and demonstrate how their scenes in Disordered illustrate these two points.
Let s start with Artemis. The archer extraordinaire is resistant to counselling,
protesting to Black Canary that since her faux-death was the cause of the issues in
Failsafe, she herself wasn t actually affected. But despite this, it s obvious to us and Canary
that Artemis is not fine. She s guarded, and on-edge, but the thing is, she s right.
This isn t because of Failsafe. It s due to her ongoing anxiety, doubt, and self-loathing
stemming from the secrets she s holding - both the secret Canary knows about that she s Sportsmaster
s daughter and the one she doesn t that she let Cheshire evade capture, out of fear the team
would learn her own identity. It s only now that the rest of the team s been rattled that Artemis
own issues have come under scrutiny in reality, they predate the simulation fiasco by a long
time. But moving to my second point, I think this episode does see Artemis BEGIN to move past this
harmful pattern of isolation and secrecy. (clip) Canary originally suggests that Artemis isn t open
with the team because she thinks it would make her look weak, and given Artemis upbringing,
it s fair enough that Canary thinks this is the issue but we see her realise shortly after that
this isn t the heart of the matter (wally clip) It s made apparent that Artemis is shutting
herself off because she s scared that the team would reject her if they knew about her parentage,
or that she let Cheshire go. Artemis way of coping with this has been to try and close herself off
emotionally from her teammates but we see in this moment that she cares for Wally, deeply. We see
Canary realise this, and we also see that Artemis hadn t necessarily even realised this herself.
A few episodes later, we see that Artemis does, indeed, come clean about everything,
her trust and care for her teammates overrode her fears and she s accepted for all of it,
leading to the largely healthier Artemis of later seasons. And I think we see a pivotal moment in
that journey here in Disordered, when Artemis is confronted by the strength of her bond with Wally.
Given the way her journey pans out, I think it s safe to call this moment a big step forward.
Speaking of Wally, though, let s move onto Kid Flash. It seems he s coping
well suspiciously well until Canary brings up the death of Artemis. (clip)
This scene is really interesting to me, because of the way Wally defaults into the womanising,
braggadocios mode we ve seen from him previously, after Canary mentions his reaction to Artemis
death. Specifically because of the way we see Wally panic for a second, before entering this
state. That tells us that, despite appearances, Wally is anything but straught. As Canary points
out, Wally s in denial, and is adopting an unfazed fa ade in an attempt to maintain
control of his mind and his emotions. But if this fa ade is the one Wally adopts to feel in control,
then that suggests that all the other times Wally s acted in a similar way throughout the season
were motivated by similar feelings of insecurity. And if that s true that s massive, and it s a
really interesting comment on the links between juvenile behaviour and emotional struggles.
This interpretation is perhaps backed up by a comment by Bear later in the episode (clip)
Given this line, and given just how much more mature and sincere Wally seems in
the show s second season, it seems reasonable to speculate that Wally s therapy scene in Disordered
suggests that a fair amount of Season 1 Wally s more abrasive qualities come from a fear of
genuine emotional intimacy with the team as a whole and with people like Artemis in particular.
There s nothing wrong with being a clown, but when considered alongside Wally s startling season 2
sincerity, Disordered suggests that this aspect of Wally s personality was never coming from an
authentic place. And as for my second point, that Disordered sees all our characters begin to move
in healthier directions, we see Wally accept that his blas state is a form of denial. Sure,
he s says he s comfortable with that but what has this scene told us, if not that the comfortable
demeanour Wally s been defaulting to is a front? If nothing else, then, this scene shows us Wally
starting to confront his own, perhaps inadequate coping mechanisms and even if he s not made any
progress by the end of the episode, he clearly goes onto outgrow this attitude before too long.
And now we start to get to the really meaty bits of the episode, so let s talk about Kaldurahm.
Aqualad is distressed after believing himself to have failed as a leader in the simulation. (clip)
This is another moment where the trauma of Failsafe reopens existing insecurities in the
team. Kaldur s struggled with accepting the mantle of leadership previously,
since way back in episode X, so the guilt of his decision-making in the simulation even though
by its very nature he could never have beaten it correctly only compounds these existing anxieties.
Kaldur even tries to resign the mantle of leader, but after Canary asks who he d nominate to take
up his position, Aqualad realises that he remains the best candidate. (clip)
What we see here, then, even more clearly than any of the previous scenes, is a character moving
forward. This isn t merely the show breaking down Kaldur s insecurities, it s Kaldur reaffirming his
faith in his leadership. He realises that while he may not be the perfect leader,
nobody is the perfect leader, and that for now, he s the best leader the team could have. It s
not an instant solution to Kaldur s insecurities, but instant solutions rarely exist, and this is a
more genuine, more realistic beat anyway Kaldur needs to keep working at his confidence issues,
needs to keep trying to be the best he can be, but in this scene we see him make that choice
to keep on fighting. And, yeah, it pays off, as by the third season, he s become the co-chair
of the entire League. And sure, in that season, you could argue that the leadership he displays
and the decisions he makes aren t perfect but he s clearly made progress from this scene in season 1.
13:14 (clip for intro) Robin s scene is a bit heavier than Kaldur s,
but I do think there are some similarities to be drawn. Dick s experiences within the simulation
have made him come to a realisation (clip) Being the next Batman, the man who helped raise
the orphaned Rick, the man he clearly idolises (don t tell batman) that isn t what Robin wants.
That isn t who he is. He s not prepared to put the objective above his friends. This is traumatic for
the poor kid. I mean, think about it, Robin s like 13 at this point, and he s realising that the one
rock, the one anchor around whom he rebuilt his life after his parents died? He can t follow him
the way he thought he could. Because of that, this scene is hard to watch. But it s also cathartic,
because while we re seeing Dick struggle, this struggle is a necessary one, and he s better off
for it. while realising that he doesn t want to be Batman is in some ways a negative beat, it s also
a really positive one. Because what is this, if not Robin reclaiming and reaffirming his humanity,
and the bonds he s made with other people? Realising that he can t put the mission above
the safety of his adoptive family means that he s a healthy person who can be an authentic part
of society in a way Batman can t anymore. And I think it s fairly clear in this scene
that Failsafe hasn t changed Robin fundamentally. This is a realisation, not a shift in character.
That means that, like the other examples we ve discussed up until this point, Failsafe
isn t the root of Robin s trauma it s more the catalyst causing a pre-existing and buried issue
to spring to the surface. And also like the other examples, facing this issue is tough,
but Robin does face it, and moves forward, grows, self-actualises as a result. At the close of
this episode, Robin knows himself better, exists more authentically, than he did before Failsafe.
But while Robin makes a good deal of progress in Disordered, the same isn t as true for the
next hero, Miss Martian. She doesn t move past her trauma, not just yet.
But I think this episode does see her figure out how to better approach the task. (clip)
Megan is scared to embrace her true self, both physically and psychically. The latter
is a direct result of Failsafe she s loath to use her powers again after they involuntarily
put the team in mortal danger. But, as Canary points out, this is tied to her self-image
issues the way she s afraid to be herself. We see this in the scene, as she subconsciously
becomes Caucasian, but she s been hiding her true White Martian appearance for far longer,
as we discover a few episodes later. Her psychic anxieties are prompted by Failsafe, but the reason
she s so ready to distrust herself, so ready to hide in her human Megan disguise in response
that s tied to her pre-existing hangups. Does this scene show her making progress
against these issues, though? Well, it s hard to say. But I think there s a way to interpret her
conversation with Canary as one which contributes to her ultimate self-acceptance. This is the
first time anyone s pointed out to Megan that control over her dangerous psychic strength
and acceptance of her martian self are two sides of the same coin and a few episodes later, we see
Megan embracing this link in order to beat Psimon in a psychic showdown, and it s very shortly after
this victory that she reveals her white martian form to the team. So even if the relevance of the
counselling scenes in Disordered is less obvious when thinking about Megan s journey compared to a
character like Robin s, I think you can definitely read this scene as, equally, a pivotal moment.
And last, but certainly not least, we get to Superboy. His is perhaps the most complex case,
as we see not one but two counselling scenes with Black Canary, which bookend the episode,
and inbetween these, he s on a caper with the so-called Forever People. When I revisited
this episode, my first impression was that this A story was fairly lightweight compared to the dark,
broken scenes at Mount Justice, that this was a bright, flashy adventure with two purposes to
offset somewhat the sense of melancholy elsewhere in the episode, and to begin introducing the New
Genesis, Apokalips lore, for the future of the show. But after I rewatched it, I came across a
couple of more interesting point in this New Gods diversion. Conner has two issues which come out in
his conversations with Canary, and I think we see him begin to move past both during this adventure.
These issues are his utter refusal to open up, to share his anxieties and pains, which we see
at the start, and his all-consuming desire to know what it s like to be Superman the role he was bred
for a desire so powerful it threatens to overwhelm his sense of self and the bonds he s made (clip)
It's quite clear in retrospect that the first of these, I think, is solved in part during Connor s
time with the Forever People. Sowing Conner interacting with a super-team so close, so
in-sync, so united that they literally become one juxtaposes ironically with the state of disarray
we see back at the cave. This juxtaposition maybe also serves as a symbol to Connor,
showing him that a harmonious team relationship is attainable if they follow,
if he follow s Bear s aforementioned advice and stops being afraid of emotional intimacy.
Conner makes a step in precisely this direction at this story s close (we bonded OK)
But this scene with Sphere is also an important part of another puzzle. I think it serves as the
conclusion of a mini-arc Conner has this episode. See, when he s introduced to the forever people,
he s unsure what name to give, but he settles on Superboy. Given what we learn later, about
Conner s time in the simulation fulfilling his taboo desire to be Superman, this moment suggests
that in the wake of Failsafe, part of Conner is still pursuing that identity hence why he picks
the less personal, more Kryptionan identifier. But when he reaches out to Sphere at this story s end,
he s not just embracing the supercycle. He s also embracing the team. Because the experiences
Conner s had with Sphere have been as Conner, as the version of himself which Megan, Wally,
Robin, Kaldur and Artemis helped birth back at mount justice. Sphere came from a team mission,
after all and by this point functions almost an emblem of the covert squad,
at least to Conner. So Conner s able to come clean to Canary at the episode s end thanks in part to
this choice a symbolic affirmation of his bond with the team over his hidden Superman desire.
So that s everyone, but what does all this tell us? Well, in each case, while Failsafe
rocked our heroes, it wasn t ever the events of the simulation itself that lay at the roots
of their traumas. Failsafe brought each issue to the surface, sure, but their origins all go
way back and have been driving some of our heroes like Superboy - for as long as we ve known them.
That s why they re so shaken Batman. But maybe more interestingly, it also tells us that this
episode doesn t just reveal or analyse the damage or emotional baggage each hero carries. In every
case, albeit to different extents, our heroes confront and surpass their mental barriers. They
begin to rip up these deep-rooted traumas. That s what s at play in Disordered. Not merely deep,
cutting, character analysis, but character development. Real development, changes that matter
and that we get to see going forward. In every dark moment there s a bright, optimistic core,
even if some are more hidden than others. People talk about character development a lot,
but rarely are characters in serialised dramas actually developed, built through struggle,
in a way as real or as graceful as in this episode. That is what made
Disordered special, and why it worked so well. I hope you ve enjoyed my little look at this
episode, and I hope some of these readings are new to you. Let me know what you thought below,
and if you d like to see more Young Justice content, because I d be thrilled to make it.
I wanna thank all my Patrons onscreen now, especially Kevin Douglas and Ian Fyfield,
you re all crash. And if this videos got you feeling the mode, don t forget to give it a like.