The other thread on this seems to have disappeared, so here's this one (unless the other one resurfaces again).
The last four episodes (since the show came back from hiatus) have really ramped up the stakes.
First, with "Targets" we get Red Arrow trying to hunt down an assassin at a peace conference between North and South Rhelasia (totally not Korea, guys, totally!). Lex Luthor makes an appearance, and I hate his voice. I remembered thinking to myself that it sounds really "rapey" when I first heard it, and then I found out Lex was voiced by Mark Rolston who played Bogs (aka the rapey guy) from The Shawshank Redemption. Totally not right for the character. I didn't really like how we came back from a six-month break to an episode focused exclusively on a character who had been completely minor up until this point, either; unless Red Arrow is given a bigger part in the future it feels like a waste. Oh, and about the ending:It turns out that Lex Luthor was working with Ras al Guhl to further the cause of "The Light", the big bad they're trying to build up in Young Justice. Really though, it's falling flat. We know nothing about "The Light" and Lex and Ras working for someone else just robs their characters of all their power.
Especially pointless since in the next episode "Terrors" Miss Martian and Superboy ditch school for several weeks to get locked up in a prison for supervillains. Now this episode has a lot of pointless character cameos that I like! Amanda Waller is the warden of Belle Reve, with her second-in-command being Hugo Strange (also the head prison psychiatrist). Neato. Inside, we have Mr. Freeze, and the introduction of a very annoying Riddler (who is said to have escaped at the end, but no one knows how - so let's hope he shows up again in a bit more menacing role). We are also introduced to a special collar device that can block the powers of any superhuman that wears them and incapacitate prisoners as the situation calls for it. This new technology (or deus ex machina as the case may be) seems like it will be very important later on. Oh, and Superboy and Miss Martian start dating in this episode. About time those two stop dancing around each other like a couple of tailless lemurs and get down to business.Hugo Strange is shown to be working with Icicle Sr in the service of "The Light", which is starting to become cliche at this point. Hugo Strange takes over the prison after removing Amanda Waller; what's interesting is Strange seems to demonstrate some superhuman strength at one point, saving Waller's life from one of the inmates. It's never quite explained.
Then we get "Home Front", in which Mt. Justice is attacked by Red Torpedo and Red Inferno, who incapacitate everyone but Artemis and Robin, who were at school at the time. Barbara Gordon makes a cameo as a classmate of the two - no word if she's Batgirl at the time, but I would suspect not. Most everything that happens in this episode is pretty forgettable (it's just Artemis and Robin sneaking around to avoid the two robots who easily overpower them), but the ending is very intriguing:Red Tornado returns after Artemis takes out Torpedo and Inferno with an EMP blast, and after Tornado contacts the other robots he turns evil and attacks the Young Justice team, incapacitating them and escaping. They have no clue where he is after this point.
Now we have the latest, "Alpha Male", in which Aqualad's authority as team leader is called into question. They have to investigate a series of animal attacks in India with the help of Captain Marvel. Mostly this episode seems like the kids bitching at each other to quit bitching, and really it's less tolerable than being stuck on an eight-hour road trip with your bratty cousins who eat all the beef jerky and then start yelling because you stole "their" Powerade and FUCK. This is the point where I really start to question if making a show about "realistic" teenagers is such a good idea. Though I'd take this over any of that ABC Family "Slutty Life of the American Teenager" crap any day. It turns out okay though, with The Brain and Monsieur Mallah of the Brotherhood of Evil turning up (along with those collars from Belle Reve prison, for some reason) and Aqualad emulating Batman to get some respect from his fellow YJs (YJ - Young Justice leaguers, I guess; an YJ isn't a sex thing, right?). I really love that they're bringing Captain Marvel into this too - he's such an underappreciated character, at least in comparison to Superman who I find pretty bland.
There are three more episodes left in this season, and as long as the quality remains consistent this should end up an entertaining run before the next season debuts. One rumor I've heard is that Wonder Girl is supposed to be joining the team (DC and WB having gotten back the TV rights to Wonder Woman after the failed pilot), but nobody's confirmed that.
Oh, and a minor, exciting spoiler for an upcoming episode:ZATANNA!!!!
She's supposed to help the team find Red Tornado, but there's no word how she's going to appear in the show - as a teenaged version of herself, or as an adult and mentor to the team. Personally, I'd love to see a teenage Zatanna, and would love for her to become a permanent member of the team. Her father Zatara is currently a member of the Justice League in this continuity, but normally she's portrayed as being Batman's age (as they're friends/love interests occasionally). There are rumors that Zatara is going to be killed off though, so maybe Zatanna takes her father's place in the Justice League.
I really want to see her join Young Justice though. She never gets any decent screen time in the DCAU.
So... I'm really looking forward to seeing how this season wraps up, despite my trepidations.