REVIEW: ‘Young Justice: Outsiders’ Season 3, Episode 20 – “Quiet Conversations”

New Years on Young Justice has always been a big deal. Previously, in season one, it has marked the end of a successful mission and brought together Wally (Jason Spisak) and Artemis (Stephanie Lemelin) Now, it is in new years again as Young Justice: Outsiders returns with another episode, “Quiet Conversations.” The episode opens with Victor Stone (Zeno Robinson), aka Cyborg, wandering the streets of Hollywood. Previously, Victor left Artemis and refused to join the rest of the Outsiders. He has been unable to face – pun not intended – his new face and abilities. Victor’s relationship with his father is still incredibly strained as he blows off his Dad while speaking with him on the phone.

But after being found by Fred, aka Forager, it becomes abundantly clear something is wrong with Victor outside of just his mental health. Victor reveals that because he has refused to let Father Box take his mind, the machine is slowly taking over more of Victor’s body until we will be nothing more than, in his words, “a walking, talking Father Box.”

In an effort to stop his condition, Conner Kent (Nolan North), aka Superboy, calls upon his friend Dreamer of the Forever People, a group of extraterrestrial superheroes from New Genesis. The Forever People have played a role in the series before and the civilization is known within DC Comics as the good New Gods. Dreamer tells Victor his only chance is to sit in the Mobius Chair, created by Metron, the inventor of the Father and Mother box as well as the Boom Tube. Conner, Jefferson, aka Black Lightning, and Forager travel to Metron in hopes of finding answers for Victor.

Meanwhile, Violet (Zehra Fazal) has run away leaving a note asking her friends to not try and find her. Previously, Violet told Brion (Troy Baker) that Gabrielle, the girl whose body her spirit inhabits, helped in the murder of his parents. Violet has also been struggling with the news that she is dying since her cells are no longer properly regenerating.

Artemis leaves to go find her after learning how poorly Brion and Tara (Tara Strong) reacted to Violet’s news. Violet finds Gabrielle’s family in hopes of getting closure. So far, Violet has been the only new character to get a fully-fleshed out character. That being said, it has still had some problematic moments. However, Violet’s moments with Gabrielle’s family are beautiful.

While looking for Violet, Megan (Danica McKellar), now a counselor at Happy Harbor High, speaks to Harper about her and Violet’s relationship. Harper is being abused by her father but makes the decision to not say anything in fear of seeing her and her brother be separated in the system. While a lot of moment in Young Justice: Outsiders, particularly with Violet, have been handled poorly, this moment was done incredibly well.

As Artemis and Megan worry about Violet, Kaldur’ahm (Khary Payton) has his hands full trying to help the new meta-teens. Kaldur travels to Atlantis with the unnamed girl from the last episode who grew gills after having her meta-gene activated. As Kaldur’ahm introduces the new girl, who refuses to give her name, he reflects on his involvement in the fight against Professor Ivo. It was revealed that the fight was staged by Batman and members loyal to him in order to stop Lex Luther from gaining more traction in the public eye.

“Quiet Conversations” is one of the few recent episodes to show members of the Justice League and focus on the original characters. Young Justice: Outsiders has struggled to balance it’s often overcrowded cast and give everyone enough screentime. Since the middle of this season, most of the older cast members have been regulated to being side-characters. Seeing Superboy and Superman again was welcome since neither has had much screentime this season.

In addition to seeing more of Superboy, “Quiet Conversations” gives us more insight into Kaldur’s new life as Aquaman as well as his relationship with Wyynde, an Atlantean who works with King Orin, confirming he is bisexual. The reveal was not overdone and a very lovely moment. The way this episode handles these powerful moments is eons better than previous ones this season. Young Justice is definitely on it’s way to being the fantastic show it was in season one.

Young Justice: Outsiders is now streaming on The DC Universe with new episodes dropping every Tuesday.