Young Justice 1.15

Humanity

Zatara vists the cave with Zatanna, his teenage age daughter. The team is still pissed at the League over what happened with Red Tornado in 1.12 (Home Front), mostly because the League doesn't want them to get involved despite their relationship with the android superhero. The team sneaks out behind the backs of the few League members (Zatara, Black Canary, Captain Marvel) who are at the cave at the time. They fly to Belle Reve and interrogate Professor Ivo who spills the beans (as to Red Tornado's likely whereabouts) thanks to a spell cast by Zatanna.

T.O. Morrow, the Red Tornado's inventor, is hard at work repairing his creation. He completes his work before the heroes arrive and then introduces him to his new brother Red Volcano. He reminds Red Tornado about the history of his androids. Red Torpedo and Red Inferno (originally named Firebrand), his two older siblings, were both heroes initially but neither was very successful. Morrow activates Red Volcano who quickly rips his "father" to shreds. It turns out that "father" was an android, too.

The heroes arrive and do battle with Red Tornado. It seemed like Red Tornado had switched sides, joined the bad guys, but Red Tornado was not brainwashed. He helps the young heroes battle Red Volcano and talks his other two siblings into joining his side. He reminds them that they too were heroes once. Together the trio of androids takes down their youngest brother. All but Red Tornado are destroyed in the process.

Not perfect but this episode had some moments that I really liked. The sequence where Morrow tells the story of Red Torpedo's and Red Inferno's origins brings in the Justice Society of America very briefly. The coloring for this sequence is faux black-and-white which makes sense considering that both of them were created during World War II when most movies were still in black-and-white. I was very surprised to see Firebrand (albeit an android version of the comic book character) make an appearance.

There was something about the music in this episode that I really liked. It helped to underscore some of the emotional or character moments that I thought worked quite effectively without overemphasizing them. The scene where Red Torpedo and Red Inferno drag Red Volcano down into the lava and they are slowly destroyed was surprisingly moving. I was also moved by the scene at the end where Red Toranado visits the real Morrow who is considerably older looking than the android version of himself.

There are lots of unanswered questions and jumps that I thought about as I watched this episode. It felt like it could have been longer. I'm not sure I would have liked how they filled in the missing parts but I can see how some might not like this episode or feel that it is weak. All in all not perfect but I found enough here to move me that I give it a thumbs up.