Five years have passed since the events at the end of the first season of Young Justice. The events of the finale, though, are still being dealt with. While under control of the vicious villain, Savage, at the end of the first season, 6 members of the Justice League (Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Hawkwoman, and Martian Manhunter), the heroes are left reeling. While everything is back to normal for the most part, all 6 of the league members still have a 16 hour gap of unaccounted time in their memories from when their minds were being controlled. As we open this season, it's quickly revealed to us that the League attacked an alien world during their blackouts, and now the aliens are preparing a massive retaliation on Earth.

To counteract this event, Batman and the other league members take off for Oa, home of the Green Lantern Corps, in the hopes that they can work out a peaceful solution instead of galactic warfare. Due to their absence, this development leaves the Young Justice team to handle the situations while they're gone. The problem is, is the team we had gotten to know and love in the first season no longer exists, as several of the members have parted ways.

Dick Grayson (Played by Jesse McCartney) still leads the group, only now he is called Nightwing and the Robin mantle has been taken up by Tim Drake after the death of Jason Todd. Superboy (played by Nolan North) and Miss Martian (played by Danica McKellar) are still with the team as veterans in leadership roles for the teams new recruits for this season including; The Blue Beetle (played by Eric Lopez), Lagoon Boy (played by Yuri Lowenthal), Batgirl (played by Alyson Stoner), Impulse/Kid Flash (played by Jason Marsden), Aquagirl (played by Cree Summer), Beast Boy (played by Logan Grove), Guardian (played by Kevin Michael Richardson), Wonder Girl (played by Mae Whitman), Bumblebee (played by Masasa Moyo) and occasional member, Static (played by Bryton James.)

There are two major plot threads running through these episodes outside of the impending alien invasion... the first is the fallout from the Justice League's memory loss and its subsequent ramifications, and the second is how life has changed for the original Young Justice Members over the last five years. For me personally, everything is built up quite well, albeit a bit rushed considering this season getting 6 episodes less than its predecessor, but I felt the writers were able to get the right balance between the storylines and knocked it out of the park. However, while the build up of the main storylines are excellent, the ending lacks and ends up making the show as a whole suffer as pretty much every major storyline is left unresolved and even some new ones were created for Season 3.

Episodes:

1. Happy New Year - Five years after the Justice League were controlled by Vandal Savage, their time under his control comes back to haunt them.

2. Earthlings - The team of Miss Martian, Superboy, Beast Boy and Adam Strange are sent to the planet Rann to halt the Krolotean invasion before it can begin; Miss Martian finds information on the Leagues whereabouts during the missing time.

3. Alienated - Members of the Team and the League investigate a Krolotean island, resulting in a fight where the invading Kroloteans receive aid from an unexpected ally.

4. Salvage - Superboy and Blue Beetle take on Intergang, while Nightwing tries to save the original Red Arrow.

5. Beneath - Blue Beetle searches for a missing friend, while the team of Miss Martian, Batgirl, Bumblebee and Wonder Girl return to Bialya.

6. Bloodlines - A mysterious intruder appears inside Mount Justice claiming to be a time-traveling visitor from the future.

7. Depths - Artemis returns to the team to protect an important satellite launch.

8. Satisfaction - Green and Red Arrow try and stop the original Speedy from taking his revenge on Lex Luthor.

9. Darkest - An old friend returns to Mount Justice and takes revenge to prove himself to his new masters.

10. Before the Dawn - Aqualad meets the Light's partner and learns of their plans for Earth while Miss Martian's revenge backfires on her. Meanwhile, the team meets a new, seemingly unbeatable super villain.

11. Cornered - The team is trapped inside the Hall of Justice for a cage match against a brutal alien gladiator.

12. True Colors - When the Reach forms a devil's alliance with Lexcorp, Robin leads a squad undercover to investigate.

13. The Fix - Black Manta seeks vengeance against Miss Martian.

14. Runaways - Nightwing tasks Blue Beetle with chasing down a group of potentially dangerous super-powered teenage runaways.

15. War - A conqueror from another world becomes a wild card in an intergalactic game of supremacy - placing planet Earth square in the jackpot.

16. Complications - Black Manta gives Miss Martian 24 hours to live, but that may be more time than Aqualad has, with Sportsmaster and Cheshire on the hunt for his head.

17. The Hunt - A band of misfits is put to the test when Lex Luthor sends them behind enemy lines ... to rescue the team!

18. Intervention - The team embarks on a desperate endeavor to free Blue Beetle.

19. Summit - The Light calls a summit to decide the final fate of Aqualad, the team ... and the entire planet Earth!

20. Endgame - When the earth is threaten by the Reach, the team must team up with Lex Luthor and fight the reach with out the Justice League.

- Positives:

+ Business as usual with this series. It's A LOT of fun.

+ The primary cast of characters are excellent and fleshed out.

+ All of the primary stories are well written and engrossing.

- Negatives:

- That damn finale!

- Killing off a fan favorite character just for the sake of doing so.

- Numerous unresolved plot lines including the ultimate plan of the series villain. Ugh. Damned Cartoon Network.

Video and Audio
Young Justice: Invasion is presented on Blu-ray in a 1080p High Definition in its original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen and it's a beautiful presentation. The color palette are vivid and strong. The action scenes are wonderfully fluid with bold colors, while the characters are overall fantastically detailed.

The audio is presented in a lossless DTS HD Master 2.0 track, with English audio and English subtitles only. Overall the cast is fantastic from top to bottom with the standout still being Nolan North, although Jesse McCartney is shockingly terrific in the lead role of Dick Grayson/Nightwing. The music never really command the scenes and remain at the appropriate levels whether it's during an action scene or a intimate moment between the characters. There were no signs of dropouts or distortions throughout the set.

Extras: - Commentary Track on episodes "Summit" and "Endgame" with creators Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti, along with voice actors Jason Spisak (Kid Flash) and Stephanie Lemelin (Artemis.)

- Behind the Scenes Featurette

Overall:
Young Justice: Invasion is a small step down from its freshman season, but it's still an incredible piece of art that was criminally cancelled before its time. The series is chock full of excellently developed characters, terrific animation, fluid action sequences and the series has a wonderful story that is built up well throughout the 20 episodes. Sadly, the majority of the plotlines are left unresolved, so if that is a deal breaker then I'd probably steer clear, if not, then seek this show out. Highly recommended