Hey gang! I hope you all watched the latest Young Justice: Outsiders episode, “First Impression,” because I’ve got a lot of thoughts regarding the newest developments. Beast Boy took center stage this week…and…it…was…amazing!! He stood up to the elder statesmen of the Team, told them about his plan to counteract the negative media campaign, and took control.

Like a boss.

Beast Boy has come a long way from the little guy we met way back in season one. Gar is now leading a team called…you guessed it…the Outsiders, with Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle, Static, Geo-Force and Kid Flash by his side. Since Gar’s mission is to help the good guys combat their bad reputation with a strong public presence, he picked the right set of heroes for his squad. Brion is a royal prince, Cassie looks like a pop star and Bart has manic youthful energy. Any public relations executive would jump at the chance to represent a group like that. It’s almost as if Gar was forming a teen idol singing group, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing considering he wants his team of Outsiders to be adored by the public.

Personally, I love Beast Boy’s idea, and I loved seeing him stand up to the other heroes. But I worry about him biting off more than he can chew. I have full confidence in Gar’s leadership abilities, as he proved himself to be quite effective this week, but there are other circumstances at play which could spell the end for the Outsiders.

In addition to starting up this new team, Gar is now sharing his loft with Brion, Tara, Violet, Victor and Forager. A bunch of emotional teenagers with superpowers are sharing space in an expensive apartment…what could possibly go wrong? Their only adult chaperone is Dr. Helga Jace, and as I stated last week, I don’t entirely trust her. Even if I had faith in Dr. Jace’s intentions, six teenagers need more than one chaperone. Victor is still making peace with his current condition, Brion just learned to control his anger, and Forager is…well, Forager is Forager. I think the living arrangement is an interesting setup, and I want to see every minute of this craziness, but I also worry about it being a ticking time bomb. What happens when Victor has another freak out? Garfield Logan, you’ve got your work cut out for you.

During the first half of the season, we learned that Batman was secretly coordinating activities that the rest of the Justice League didn’t know about. Wonder Woman, Kaldur, Nightwing and Miss Martian are part of the secret cabal, but Megan made the decision to keep Gar in the dark. Megan’s trying to be something of a protective big sister here, but will this decision do more harm than good? Gar has already made it clear he’s going his own way, and his actions could inevitably run counter to what Megan and Batman are doing.

There are so many teams running around, and not everyone is aware of what the other groups are doing. This chaos could potentially prove advantageous to the Light. After all, the Light is unified with their plan, while the heroes aren’t even aware of what their own leadership is doing. I understand Megan’s reluctance to pull her “little brother” into the morally grey cabal, but I hope this doesn’t set Gar up for a nasty fall.

I don’t want you all to think I’m just playing out worst case scenarios. I know I got a bit paranoid when I wrote about Halo last week, and I’m not trying to be a downer. I love these characters, as we all do, and I want good things for them. These heroes live dangerous lives and worrying about them means we care. It means we’re emotionally connecting with them. If the audience can care about these fictional characters, that’s a sign that the show has done its job, and I can think of no better testament to the success of Young Justice.

Can Beast Boy lead the Outsiders to greatness? Tweet at me and let me know your thoughts! It’ll help us all pass the time as we wait for next week’s new episode. See you then!


Young Justice: Outsiders airs exclusively on DC Universe. Subscribe now and catch new episodes every Tuesday!

Joshua Lapin-Bertone writes about TV, movies and comics for DCComics.com and DCUniverse.com, is a regular contributor to the Couch Club and writes our monthly Batman column, "Gotham Gazette." Follow him on Twitter at @TBUJosh.