Honestly the therapy episode after is the thing that basically sealed yj for me as something amazing. Every scene just really tells you so much about the characters and is so humanizing and raw in a way that stays with you.
Yeah that one of the best episodes and thanks to that episode. Connor being scd an and showed their deepst. Even if that int the greatest, its very impactful.
Was gonna say the same this episode was pretty “meh” for me didn’t care once the dream was over but the follow up therapy and character development was a lot better.
Failsafe is seen as one of the Best Episodes of Young Justice in the fandom but not just because of Failsafe itself. Rather the REAL meat that cements its place, at least in the mind of myself and some others, is the follow-up "Disordered". The fact the Team is given therapy for the events of the episodes really cements how just because the scenario wasn't real, the trauma WAS and it gives us hints to later revelations about the arcs team members later undergo. Failsafe ran so that Disordered could fly, which allowed the show to soar.
Unlike most storylines of other shows, this one pulled off the it-was-all-a-dream trope. Even though everything they experienced was never real, it had an impact deep enough to last onto the next episode, and pave the way for small character development. Plus it’s dark for a kids show. Well, back when it was a kids show. Edit: It’s not even a so-called dream, it’s telepathic simulation designed to be impossible to pass, but went wrong because Miss Martian is apparently more powerful than Martian Manhunter.
Definitely one of the best episodes. Robins realization that he didnt want to be batman because of that was one of the best scenes to me. Would love videos on these characters and their developments!
@@billytessio6326 and wanted to run out of his skin because of it. Remember the ending. Homes didn't want to be leader. Or even near the team. He was done. I wonder what happened that made him come bact. Cause he looked scared and tired of himself at the end of season 2.
Compare that scene when Robin is saying he doesn't want to become Batman with the scene much later in Season 1 when WW is questioning Batman's motives in indoctrinating Robin into crime fighting: WW: So that he would become like you? Bats: So that he wouldn't.
This was the perfect way to do the "It was all a dream" trope. Because the characters still felt the impacts and believed it was real. Even though the deaths didn't stay, the emotional and mental impact on the characters and story did. I think this episode was brilliant.
Fail Safe had a profound effect on me. I was in 2nd grade, and my mom and I were obsessed with this show. That morning we were on our way to school, and got into our very first car accident. Every one was fine, but the effects of the Injuries I sustained I still feel to this day. After we went to the doctor and got the all clear to go home, we noticed we'd recorded the latest young justice episode, and to help us with the shock of what happened, we decided to watch it. It was this episode. Most people LOVE Fail Safe, and it's almost always ranked in people's top 3 episodes of the season and some times series, it probably would have been for me too, if it weren't subconsciously attached to the memory of the car wreck. To this day I can't watch the episode with out some level of discomfort, and my joints aching slightly. I still love the show though, and it's definitely in my top 3 shows. I was so happy when I found out it got renewed.
This is an important episode. I think the character most impacted was Dick, who no longer wanted to lead, something we see him struggle with for the rest of the show.
Oh, now that you mention it, that's true! I was rewatching the first season recently and got to that episode when we met Gar that Dick was given the leader position and wasn't a fan of the idea, with him also almost getting this woman and her son killed...
@@stephenking5852 For anyone. Batman meant not BE HIM. The traumatized Boy who watched his parents die in front of him. Who began to lose his personal connection to those around him etc. That's what Batman meant.
Dude when I was a kid, this episode DESTROYED me!! Honestly, the therapy episode after kind of made me feel better after, but man I seriously thought everyone died, and that was it
Failsafe is definitely one of my favorite episodes in the entire series. I remember the very first time I watched it in 2011. It blew my mind and I couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks. Truly a gut-punch of an episode.
I don't know why DC hates Nightwing so much. He gets killed or taken out super easily in almost every piece of recent media. Injustice, under the red hood, DCeased, apocalypse war and I can go on and on.
actually I like this episode a lot, but it was truly elevated by follow up episode. it shifted form "one issue per episode" structure and didn't just jumped to a new one, but instead digged deeper into how our heroes dealt with this trauma. those small segments where they talked to a terapist payed major respect to consiquesnces of this expirience.
Going back and looking at the earlier episodes of the show, there's enough foreshadowing and setup that I can confidently say that from the very beginning, they'd planned at least through season 2.
This episode is not only imo one if the best episodes of the series but the only episode to further develop the characters and set their futures in motion. For example this episode shows Wally's true love for Artemis, Robin not wanting to become Batman and becoming Nightwing, making Miss Martian so powerful more powerful than her Uncle and The Team becoming stronger together.
I remember seeing this episode when I was younger and since I didn't followed the show episode by episode I was like "wtf has happened while I was gone?" I didn't finished the episode since I had to go so I was even more confused.
I had seen the therapy session before but not the rest of the episode, so when I first saw Failsafe I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I didn't even register that Manhunter came back when he should have been dead, or that it could have been a mind game.
This episode is so full of foreshadowing. Both the really obvious stuff (alien invasion, a flip on a certain death, the new heroes who join the team) to more subtle stuff (Kaldur giving a rallying speech to the world, Dick's cold pragmatic leadership). Even one of the very minor characters "introduced" in this episode shows up in season 4.
I remember at the end of my high school years and liking Young Justice. I really need to go watch seasons 3 and 4 of the show to see where it went. Man their is a lot of shows I need to binge. Glad to see more DC content on your channel, can't wait for more.
My ex immediately turned to me after the first death and said "Dream sequence or Batman training simulation?" I simply told her no and we kept watching. At the end she got mad and said I lied to her. I said, "I didn't lie. It was a dream sequence AND Batman training simulation"
You're not alone in thinking this episode's important, this is a defining episode for many of the character's arcs for the whole series. I hope you keep delving into the show, even if your takes aren't piping hot, I'd love to hear them
I loved this show as a kid, and I would watch it EVERY Friday! But, for some reason, it just stopped airing on TV. Lucky I found the episodes on Netflix. :)
That’s one I need to rewatch. I loved the world and characters of Young Justice. You will definitely enjoy it. Fail safe is quite good and it does new things to shake things up. I especially enjoyed the therapy episode because when do we see heroes in therapy. Definitely do more Young Justice videos!
Had to rewatch both this episode and the follow up episode after I saw this vid because both episodes are just so danged good, and raw. This really was a foreshadowing of what was to come, and the fact that they were bold enough to try to tackle the effects of Trauma, giving more foreshadowing to the more mature topics that were to come? Oof. Love it.
The events that happened in Failsafe only scratch the surface of what made it great. The trauma that is explored afterwards in team therapy and how each character conducts themselves going forward is awesome to watch.
I was a huge fan of Young Justice when it first came out! It's so good! But I haven't watched anything of season 3 or beyond. In reality I forgot it existed, I remember it being cancelled after season 2. But holy cow it got renewed! That's amazing! Do you know where I can find it? Thank you for making this awesome video and covering one of the best episodes that DC has ever produced!! Keep up the great work!
I’m honestly not sure where to watch the show. I know that there’s no easy (legal) ways to get it here in the U.K., but internationally I think it’s got something to do with the company HBO?
@@PillarofGarbage I think the only option is to wait for HBO Max to come to your country and until then it’s either using VPN to connect to American content or the illegal ways.
It got renewed on HBO Max. You can also get season three on Blu-Ray. They didn't try to grab fans in the show's original intended age range, and instead, aged it with the audience, so seasons 3 and 4 are much darker. Metahuman trafficking, the true consequences of the Fourth World's involvement with Earth-16's affairs...
Minor Spoilers: Vandal Savage is amazing, and the reason for the Light's existence is revealed. There are some weak parts in Season 3 especially, but still solid. Give it a watch.
The show is underrated. Took some convincing for a friend to push through the seemingly 'kid show' aesthetic so that he could get to the mature story telling.
To as one who has watch and rewatch this show when I was a kid and I still do now as a teenager I say that fail safe was a good turning point type of episode which sets everything else for the later seasons and I have not even watched season 4 yet but I already know that it gets even darker there.
I really love young justice, and i hope to see more coverage of it on the channel. My only real couple of gripes with the series is that after season one, the show put the plot and plot progression over its characters. So many characters are introduced which is awsome but if that character isnt intimately linked to the plot then they dont get any meaningful development and become hollow fan service. Also the time skips can be annoying because we skip ober what could be some really meaningful relationships/developments with nothing but some light lip service
You should check out the 1st half of the 4th season they released! It dives into the main characters that were fleshed out in Season 1, and honestly it's been great so far -- the way you see how much the characters have matured and the struggles they deal with now are so well captured in my opinion, definitely feel like the plot became less convoluted and new characters become better fleshed out in this season
@@catherinel.5100 oh yeah, the first half of season 4 is a step in a better direction for the characters and im enjoying it alot and cant wait for the next half to drop
as someone who watched many videos about this show and watched this show way too many times, this e[isode is regarded as one of the best episods. though usually this episode is analyzed together with the next episode which covered the fallout from this episode
Growing up with this show was such a cool and unique experience because it grew up with us, ive rewatched the show a few times and im always amazed at hiw well it handled its mature themes, something id always loved about Teen Titans, but this show truly mastered the balance between kids entertainment and mature storytelling in the firdt two seasons. Its also really cool that a lot of the stronger mature themes came directly from M'gann, who was the friendliest and most bubbly member of the team, everything from her self esteem issues right up to her trying to remove a memory from Superboy, something that subtextually represents abuse imo. She's probably my favourite member of the team, she's such a complex character and im so excited to see her again when Phantoms returns, she could very easily start going down a similar dark path to her comic counterpart, much like Zatanna. I actually seen people complain that her using her students to find a replacement for Doctor Fate was incredibly out of character for her, and its at least extremely on brand for comic Zatanna, just look at the time she changed a villains personality on a fundamental level because he assaulted, i believe it was Sue Dibny? She also wiped Batman's memory to cover it up because he was the only member of the league who disagreed with the idea. Its not as outright in the show, but the biggest support of that being in character was was the did to Artemis when she demanded Zatanna let her meet Wally's soul, it was specifically Zatanna AND M'gann, whose darkness is fairly evident, who used an illusion to trick Artemis into finally moving on from Wally, that is REALLY dark. Weirdly its also reflected in Zatanna's protoge Mary, who Zatanma hypocritically refused permission to don the helmet of fate due to her flaws, whwn Zatanna has all the same flaws as Mary, god i love this show there is so much you can read into the characters
I actually didn’t mind what Zatanna did, it’s kinda cool to see the “heroes” make morally dubious choices, like Nightwing’s plan to have Aqualad “kill” Artemis. Also Mary was just annoying.
@@MTV2O2O I agree, the characters would be boring and one dimensional if they didnt make these mistakes, honestly i like Mary, i think the biggest problem was just that Zatanna wasnt the right teacher, Mary is struggling with who she is as a person, she knew she didnt want to be Sargent Marvel but didnt know what she wanted beyond that, she needs therapy not magic training 🤣im really interested to she where she goes from here
@@Luke-fu5co My problem with the Zatanna arc was that it started to be about everyone but her, I mean the students, Klarion, and even Vandal Savage kept butting in, even in her own story arc Z can’t get screentime.
@@MTV2O2O Yeah i was also annoyed at that, idk if it wqs intentional or not though because part of Zatanna's whole thing is the fact that she's kinda dedicated most of her young adult life to finding a way to free her father, like maybe because she doesnt put herself first in her own life, nobody else puts her first, hopefully part of her story will be her realising she needs to actually live her life, all the other members of the team have friends or family, shes the only one who doesnt, if we get another season she definitely needs a bigger role, at least she doesnt have it as bad as Rocket though🤣 introduced as a side character and hasnt had anything else beyond that, she hasnt even gotten a new look like every other member of the team did over the years
@@Luke-fu5co Yeah except Rocket’s always been a minor character, and the other is ZATANNA. (Actually just ignore everything I’ve said, I’m just bias since Zatanna’s my favorite female DC character)
Hi ! I’m a little late, great video as always, I love the show. Few things 1) Greg Weisman, when writing season 1, had 5 seasons planned 2) This episode is indeed considered a great classic, though it’s not my personal favorite.
After I first watched I was like "Dang, there is absolutely no way that this experience won't not have an effect on them." (I know they did discuss it in the next episode)
These two parter episodes really Showed the possible ambitious creative stories young Justice could do. As of now, season 1 really was the pinnacle of the show and it hasn’t been there since….
I love it when shows get dark or serious. I also like it when shows choose to mature with it’s audience and address serious topics. Reminds me of Star Wars the Clone Wars and how they got darker with each season.
I remember watching the episode for the first time and remarking on why no one cared when wolf died before the big reveal. Once everything was explained I knew that this was the greatest dc cartoon ever made
This is one of those shows that comes once in a blue moon it checks all the boxes :Gripping themes:incredible characters:fluid and natural character interaction:funny:consequences:character development:no excessive plot armour:amazing story I can keep going no it’s not perfect but it’s one of those shows that has way more positives then negatives I’ve never seen shows like this widespread but I want to comment down below what you think are some other shows like this one for me it’s Beast wars
This episode was amazing, but for me the following episode's therapy scenes are the moments that made me realized this show was dedicated to the characters as people just as much as heroes. Robin's scenes especially always hit me hard
To me, the episode matured the show and the falllout of the show can be seen throughout the rest of the show. One of these bits is just the small but signifigant part of the therapy they all go through, it shows everyones thoughts and personalities, but more importantly, their flaws. Most shows can go seasons without addressing the flaws of their characters, but this show does i beautifully and it all starts with showing these characters going through their worst moments and only grows from there.
Great video! I remember watching this for the first time and appreciating a lot of what you touch on here. It's quite clever how they anticipate the audience's assumptions. I theorize that with Wally's teleportation instead of vaporization theory, they even play on longtime DC animation viewers' familiarity with that device (it's a DCAU thing, but I won't spoil the show or episode). The Infinity War comparison is great. Even when you know it won't stick, the emotions are real. A lesser show would've used the "it was all fake thing" to erase all the consequence and impact of what happens here, but the way the show uses it to leave lasting trauma that evolves the characters is brilliant. I really wish more people would give this show a chance.
Yes! Do more YJ!! I LOVE this show. I enjoyed it as a kid and I can still enjoy it as an adult. Is simply great. And yes, this episode was intense the first time, I was also so confuse and when the truth is reveal, damn... And as an Adult I can apreciate the following episode even more because the show took its time to deal with the team's trauma.
Young Justice is my shit!!! I'm so happy this channel is going to start talking about it more, this current season has been awesome can't wait for the 2nd half to finish to find out what happened to superboy!
Yes, Failsafe is the best episode of s01, and sets the tone yes for more heavy stakes for later, also the end of s01 is also pretty heavy as all the Justice League gets taken control of and these are really high stakes, and the 6 hours 6 days I don't remember that League members went missing absolutely makes me think it was already planned, cuz think about it s03 is full of social media conflicts and public opinion and the League's most famous heros are heroes are out in space regaining League's reputation as the human traffic grows
I LOVE Young Justice. I gotta say though, it unfortunately has A LOT of haters... and trolls who hate people that like it lol. It's very unfortunate. I think it gets a lot of unfair criticism, but I also think it gets some fair criticism as well, but most of the time (in my experience at least) it's totally unfair and just people seemingly enjoying trolling. I think Young Justice gets an unfair wrap, and is underrated, and better than most give it credit for. I mean if you don't like it, that's fine. I'm not trying to say it's like the greatest thing ever, and like everyone has to love or like it or whatever lol. To each their own. I personally do like/love/enjoy it, but I respect anyone's/everyone's opinion, whether they like it or not, no matter what.
This is such a great vid, and I grew up watching young justice growing up, when the new seasons being more graphic and mature, I can see that the older seasons were always meant to be a lot more mature and "young"
I have a 3-way tie for my favorite DCAU tv series. In no particular order: Batman TAS, Young Justice, amd Justice League. When I'm babysitting my young nephew, Teen Titans can be pretty funny as well.
Awesome analysis about the narrative planning of YJ. One of the co-creators Gregg Weismann recently revealed that 5 seasons of the show were planned before episode 1 aired, and that they had been sticking to the main plot fairly well up to that point. The main alterations to the show have been with things like the progression of social media, which is well displayed in S3 with the popularity of the Outsiders, which can open a can of worms in-itself about how the OG team feels more mature due to the writers lack of awareness over the impact of technology and social media. This can also be shown by the inclusion of prominent representative voices in the Muslim community, (particularly a rights group that specifically handles the representation of Muslim people in media) following the rather unflattering and gruesome treatment of Halo in Season 3.
This episode is all time best along with the very next episode where you get to see the therapy sessions and just how much this traiining broke them and now they all lost something inside.The 2 episodes count as one as whole.
This video is SO timely considering where YJ is presently: Half in New Genesis & half on the Phantom Zone! After seeing this review, I can't wait to see how Connor gets saved; I didn't think my anticipation could be any greater for how that'll be resolved! IMO Young Justice is the DCEU because so much care is used to develop these characters with such a rich comic book legacy.
I remember that episode it was the day things went to hell also the torment everyone went through was difficult especially to Megan but I’m glad they move past it
9 months late to this video, but I agree so much with everything you said. I saw/hear someone say this about failsafe, and it links perfectly, (paraphrasing here) ‘failsafe is the ‘oh but it was all a dream’ cliche, but one of few that actually work. Why? Because the events have clear (and as you’ve shown subtle) and real effects on the events after the episode’
failsafe is a two episode thing, first they hit with the trauma, and then in the next episoe with the counseling and therapy they show the after effect, and ufff that just made it more heavy and greater
YJ is an amazing show through and through - fell in love with it from the get-go. The overall story, nearly all the subplots, character arcs and dynamics are nothing short of epic. Nothing really happens in it "because reasons and hand-waving". There are consequences and fallout. The last season is gut punch after gut punch. Can't wait for S4 conclusion and what lies beyond.
The most important thing about this episode is its consequences on the following one. It dives into the characters psycho and let us learn little more about them After this drama. Really interesting and it engages us much more than at the start in the story.
The episode that hooked me was the one where Robin and Artemis are fighting those Red tornado droids this one and the one after was where I was like “oh this show is pretty dark”
Anyone else immediately recognized the episode just by the thumbnail? This show hit HARD. God I love this show. Alas, I haven’t seen the new seasons cause I don’t have a DC account.
Young Justice filled a hole left by the original timverse of DC content. But it doesn't just scratch the same itch it feels more evolved, larger in scope. I would be thrilled to see more young Justice content on this channel.
