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Colette writes...

Young Justice: Invasion has been fantastic so far. The only issue I have with the show is Wally West himself, who I feel is the weakest character of the original six. I'll try to be as civil as possible so it doesn't sound like needless bashing, because I really have tried to like Wally, it's just that...

I understand that he's in college and he's retired, but when the fate of the world is at stake I really think he ought to get his prorities straight. Not to mention that his girlfriend, who is also a college student and retired, stepped right up because she was needed. And he wasted no time telling both Artemis and Dick just how unhappy he was about this. True, he only knew about the plan because Artemis wanted him to know, but it was very easy for him to step up in other ways.

Then comes "Summit". Wally has finally stopped sitting around and has actually DONE something, but it feels like it's "too little, too late". Wally has essentially just shown up for the finale to participate in the final battle and act as if he's been there the entire time. He's like the kid in a group project who does almost nothing but ends up getting as much credit as the other members who actually cared- but more on that later.

And what he said this episode made me wonder if he only returned to the hero gig to rescue Artemis and then run right back into retirement (The impression I had from "Darkest"-in which he seemed FAR more concerned and panicked about Artemis than the captured Team members- probably wasn't helping my opinion of him). He hasn't learned anything from the events of this season (how could he when he wasn't there for most of them?), so he still feels like he was in the right by not doing anything and for yelling at Dick like he expected Dick to come up with something on his behalf(if he was so worried about Artemis, why not do something himself?).

But in the end, nothing that Wally has or hasn't done will matter. He'll get the girl, he'll get to retire, and he won't get called out on how his inaction put the lives of people in danger.

Additionally, he's been rewarded for essentially doing nothing. Everyone else has worked hard and fought for his/her life, but he may as well been up in the mountains sleeping during all of it and Artemis is basically already promising him sex (it was blatantly hinted at), he's planning on going back to retirement and his selfish behaviour hasn't even been brought up.

I could go on, but you've probably heard enough of my nonsense as it is (if you even end up reading this).

Greg responds...

You're assuming that Wally refused to help or participate. And you have NOTHING from the series to back up that assumption. (Not that you have anything from the series to back up the opposite assumption either - unless you count EVERYTHING you know about Wally from what's come before.)

Anyway, you're assumption is incorrect. He was following Dick's orders from top to bottom. Not always happy about them. Not always sure of them. But he followed them. And those orders INCLUDED going about his business as a boyfriend in mourning, so that nobody suspected that Artemis might still be alive.

And retiring from being a super-hero is no more selfish than retiring from being a cop or a firefighter or a member of the armed forces (if you live in a world of super-heroes, that is). People put in their time, protect and serve. There's nothing in the "contract" that dictates it's a lifetime commitment. If you retire from the U.S. Navy, for example, that does NOT suddenly mean that you hate your country or that you're a jerk. And it would be outrageous to assume otherwise.

As for Wally, obviously, when called, he served. PERIOD. And he paid the ultimate price, made the ultimate sacrifice. The fact, that in an idea world, Wally WANTED to retire, doesn't change any of that. (Though of course, you couldn't know that when you typed this up - which PERHAPS suggests that you just MIGHT have waited to see how ONE MORE EPISODE turned out BEFORE typing this up.)

Response recorded on August 26, 2013