Greg Bishansky writes...

Bereft
Okay, this was what J. Michael Straczynski coined "a wham episode." At first glance, the entire cast getting amnesia is an old idea, but we got perhaps my favorite single episode of the series to date out of it. Revelations and teases ran wild in this episode.

Let's start with Artemis. It's safe to say that her father is a supervillain. And she was training under him relatively recently. In fact, she immediately assumed she was supposed to kill Wally. This certainly makes her more ominous, especially after her tense conversation with Cheshire in "Infiltrator." So what are Artemis and her mother doing living in a low rent apartment in Gotham when daddy is a supervillain, and Cheshire is a member of the League of Shadows? Curious.

And while I'm on the subject of Artemis, I absolutely love that when Wally doesn't remember her, or his biases against her, he hits on her. Often.

We also learn a lot about Miss Martian. I theorized last week that she learned about Earth from watching sitcoms, and it looks like I was right. Beyond that, she seems to have taken her human name, and her human appearance from a sitcom called "Hello Megan." And what seemed for weeks like a very, very, very annoying line and quirk is suddenly a plot point. It also lines up with Martian Manhunter learning about humans from watching cop shows. Although I am beginning to wonder if she actually is J'onn's niece.

But that lines up with something I've been enjoying about this show. In most team shows like this, only one character has a big secret that is damaging to the team. In "Justice League" it was Hawkgirl. In "Wolverine and the X-Men" it was Emma Frost. In "Young Justice" there may be more than one. Artemis has her secrets. There are definitely secrets about Superboy. Miss Martian seems to have her secrets. So far, Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad seem to be on the level. The only secret Robin seems to have is his secret identity.

So, in this episode, the team is assigned by Batman to locate alien technology that appeared in Bialya. Bialya is a rogue state ruled by a dictator calling herself Queen Bee. Well, she must be ruthless and dangerous to be a woman who has managed to rise to power in Africa or the Middle East. On that note, I find the timing of this episode's broadcast hilarious considering that Bialya is a near-anagram for Libya, especially considering the revolution that's taking place over there, which we all hope will be result in the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi's regime. But, I suspect Queen Bee will be far more than Muammar Gaddafi with boobs. But I'll get back to her in a moment.

Psimon made for a fun and creepy villain. I loved the psionic battle between him and Miss Martian. I love how this show makes minor villains feel like a dangerous threat. It happened with Lord Kobra and Sportsmaster. It happened with Black Manta and Professor Ivo. Now Psimon.

Of course, at the end, he reports to the Light. Specifically, he reports to L-4, voiced by Demona herself, Marina Sirtis. Hmm... Marina said a year ago that she was playing Queen Bee on this show. Queen Bee was mentioned by Batman as the ruler of Bialya, and now we hear Marina's voice behind a Light silhouette. Yeah, I think it's safe to say we've got definite confirmation on L-4's identity. Nice to see Marina Sirtis isn't being wasted on a one-shot villain, but being used as one of the Big Bads.

But the real surprise was the ending. Was that a Boom Tube? L-4 mentioned a new partner, and his delivery system. Alien technology was being delivered to the Light through this Boom Tube. I think it's more than safe to say that the Light has allied itself with Darkseid. The stakes have just risen exponentially.

Yes, a definite wham episode.