I did manage to grab the Young Justice episode from iTunes. It's still up as I write this, though it will probably be pulled in a couple of hours. Cartoon Network’s own incompetence ensures that this episode is going to be pirated.

And this episode should be pirated, because it's awesome. It's pretty fucking amazing that in only 22 minutes, the creators can choreograph a set-piece with that many characters, and move the plot forward in a big way, AND also have time to throw in a couple of big character moments. And also: Stephanie Brown !!!

Scola, between the episode you sent me, and what you whitefonted above, I am currently downloading S2 from iTunes. Is "Before the Dawn" the one you're talking about?

Yes, episode 10. But don't get too excited, it's only a cameo for a moment with her as a civilian.

That's okay -- the episode in general sounds good from your description.

We're having freaky high winds and power blips, so I'm hoping I can get the whole rest of the season downloaded in case we lose power. Then I can just curl up with my laptop and get watching.

And Cartoon Network pulled the DC Nation block from the schedule, at the last minute. Asshats.

I was swearing at Time-Warner until I got online. I had a copy of the Dragon cartoon on both my DVR and my HTPC, with a bonus episode of another random cartoon from this morning.

I really think CN doesn't know what to do with Young Justice, between the random, long hiatuses, the late pickups and now this last-minute hiatus.

All that said, I was able to get ahold of the episode and it was really good.

Greg Weisman said that this episode was written as the season finale and was already in production when CN decided to pick up another 10 episodes for the season. They decided to leave it as-is with the idea that CN would use it as the half season finale, but obviously, that would make way too much sense for them.

The writing for Young Justice was on the wall once Mattel cancelled the toyline based on the show. Of course, if CN had scheduled the show regularly, promoted it, and let it build an audience, maybe it would have sold more toys.

Does anyone know how the tie-in comics are doing?

I would hate this as a season ender, but it feels doubly weird as the episode back from a hiatus. All depends on what comes after, I guess (it's still up on iTunes, if anyone's interested and hasn't grabbed it elsewhere).

What is CN's total demographic, and what's the YJ's specifically? This seemed really violent, in deed and in implication, for a show that draws Gar like it does, if that makes any sense. The art feels like they've lightened stuff up (not to the TT Go level), but the plotlines keep getting, well, darker and darker.

I was definitely wincing at some stuff, especially when Cassie was taking a beating. But, hey, I guess that's what superpowers are for, right? Right?

(last remaining thought for the nonce: Someone really needs to put a collar on Megan. Public menace, man. Impulse (no pun intended) of a 12 year old who missed a dose of Ritalin,)

Yeah, the beating of Cassie was really brutal. Heck, the Black Beetle fight in general was really rough.

Speaking of whom, the one thing I didn't get was why Shimmer was on his side. She was a prisoner like the rest of them.

As for Megan I have a feeling she's starting to see the error of her ways.

After everything went so bad last week and Dick seemed thoroughly over his head, I had a feeling that either Megan was going to end up lobotomizing Aqualad or Lagoon Boy was going to kill him in a fit of rage/betrayal at some point this season. Wasn't expecting it so soon, though.

I do find it odd that both Dick and Tim wear sunglasses while in civvies around the team to "protect their identity" but Barbara makes zero effort to hide her face. The only thing I can think of to explain it is that Dick and Tim are regularly seen around Bruce, whereas Barbara most-likely isn't.

Edited to fix whitefont.

Now that I have all 10 episodes of S2, am I going to have a problem jumping in at this point, without having seen S1? I saw the first episode of S2 (because Scola is awesome) and didn't have any problems understanding what was what, so I'm assuming I won't have any problems with the rest of the season.