SPOILER ALERT!  This is a full episode recap, so if you want to avoid spoilers, please watch the episode before reading this!

After revealing Impulse’s possible future, where Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle betrays the human race and helps The Reach conquer the Earth, Jaime asks the Justice League to help him get free from the scarab on his back, that provides him with his super abilities.  This episode opens with The Atom and Bumblebee assisted by a Dr. Cross (possibly Pietre, Dr. Midnight?) who shrinks them down to micro size, attempting to do just that, but the scarab generates its own defenses and the pair must flee, .

G. Gordon Godfrey maintains his media war on the Justice League and his praise of The Reach who have teamed with Lex Luthor to attempt to erradicate world hunger.  Nightwing deploys Robin, Blue Beetle, Impulse and Arsenal to investigate.

The Alpha Team goes on a public tour of a Lexcorp/Reach facility and Robin takes samples of some Reach-modified produce while Impulse digs in and eats some.

Elsewhere, Sports Master airs his greivance against Kaldur’ahm, who “killed” his daughter Artemis.  He demands an “eye for an eye, a kid for a kid,” but Luthor attempts to buy him off.  Sports Master lashes out, but is stopped by Deathstroke the Terminator.  Sports Master escapes via helicopter (piloted by Cheshire), but things have clearly soured between him and The Light.

The Alpha Team spy some Reach scientists adding a strange pink crystal to the Lexcorp produce.  Robin steals a sample and plan to depart, but Arsenal takes matters into his own hands and blows up the lab, partially as revenge against Luthor.  Robin attempts to get them free, but they are confronted by Black Beetle who easily swats them down, one by one.

Elsewhere, Vandal Savage brings in Psimon to attempt to salvage Kaldur’ahm’s mind, after it was wiped out by Miss Martian.  Things don’t sound quite right, though considering that Kaldur was undercover, working with the Justice League to infiltrate The Light… a fact that not even Black Manta is aware of.

Blue Beetle fends off Black Beetle, while Robin blows a hole in the wall so the heroes can ecape.  They escape into a corn field, but Black Beetle finds them easily.  He is soon joined by… Green Beetle?

The young heroes prepare to battle the two Beetles, when surprisingly, the Green Beetle attacks the Black one.  Impulse reveals that the Green Beetle is not part of his history.  Robin quickly deduces that the Green Beetle is a Martian.  Unfortunately, Martians are weakened by fire and that is exactly what Black Beetle creates.

Blue Beetle attacks Black Beetle directly, as Impulse extinguishes the flames.  Robin and Arsenal attack Black Beetle, but their efforts fail to stop the super baddie.  The Blue and Green Beetle combine their powers to temporarily stop Black Beetle and the heroes escape to the Kent farm, where Green Beetle reveals that he is indeed from Mars and came to Earth after he discovered that The Reach had arrived there.  His Martian physiology allowed him to override the scarab that attached itself to him.

Later, Lex Luthor and Vandal savage confer regarding the Team’s infiltration of their facility and Luthor comments that perhaps the villains should form their own team, as he shows Savage photos of the young people The Reach experimented on, including Ty Longshadow.

It was nice that various subplots were touched on; the Blue/Black Beetle interaction (not to mention the introduction of Green Beetle), the Sports Master’s desire for revenge against Black Manta and Kaldur’ahm and his severing ties with The Light as well as his replacement by Deathstroke and most of all, Arsenal’s first official outing as part of the team.  Overall, the main plot regarding the farm felt kind of throw-away, but the smaller subplots felt more essential.

Then again, the farm plot may pay off, as it was revealed that Lexcorp is shipping out tainted fruit juice which I’m sure will come back into play.  It should also be interesting to see what happens when Psimon goes poking inside of Kaldur’s brain and (probably) discovers his deception.

What did you think?  Please feel free to comment below!