Bereft

"Bereft" is the ninth episode of the first season of Young Justice, and the ninth of the overall series. It premiered on March 11, 2011.

Logline
The Team finds itself wandering the desert of Bialya with no memory of the last six months... or of each other. Only Miss Martian can restore their minds and figure out what happened, but is she too late to save Superboy?

Synopsis
Miss Martian wakes up disoriented in the desert and tries to figure out where she is. She realizes she's on Earth but has no idea what she's doing there or why she is in that costume. Suddenly, Superboy lands beside her and the two exchange confused glares. Miss Martian recognizes the S-shield on his chest and asks if he is Superman. Without replying, Superboy tears his shirt and growls savagely. He lunges himself at Miss Martian, who repels his lunge with telekinesis. Superboy desists and leaps off into the desert. Miss Martian curls up on the ground, thinking she is living a nightmare.

The next morning, Robin is swooning across the desert when he spots a Humvee of Bialyan soldiers. He finds this occurrence peculiar, so he checks his wrist computer, only to find—much to his surprise—that he is in Bialya. More so, he realizes it is actually September and he has no memory of the last six months. He decides to contact Batman, but suddenly recalls him ordering radio silence at all time. He ventures off and finds a shred of Superboy's shirt, leaving him perplexed.

In a remote cabin, Artemis is awaken by Kid Flash and is initially startled. To allay her distress, he introduces himself, but Artemis claims that Kid Flash doesn't use a dark uniform. He is confused about that too and asks her if her costume means she is connected to Green Arrow. Artemis is taken aback at the sight of her costume. When Kid Flash asks her if she can handle her bow, Artemis figures this must be another test of her father's. She assumes he wants her to kill Kid Flash. As they hear an incoming missile, the two dash out of the cabin just before it gets blown to bits. Bialyan soldiers open fire at them and they make a run for it. Artemis counterattacks with an explosive arrow, making the Humvee capsize. She proceeds to attack the tanks, but Kid Flash decides to retreat and whisks her away in high velocity. She thanks him and Kid Flash resumes their interrupted introduction.

Meanwhile, Miss Martian is flying across the desert overly excited about being on Earth, which she had yearned for a long time. Though she can't remember how she got there, so she decides to stop and meditate. She remembers Superboy and serving cookies to her teammates, just before being called by Batman for to the mission room. Having realized she is part of a team, she sets off to locate them.

Kid Flash stops to replenish his energies, but finds his food stash empty. He posits that they've been out in the desert for at least 24 hours. Suddenly, Superboy jumps in and attacks the two. After slamming Kid Flash into a rock, he turns to Artemis, who tries to parry him with a barrage of explosive arrows, but with little success. However, the soldiers have caught up to them and hit Superboy with a missile.

Miss Martian telepathically senses his distress, and heads to their location.

Superboy vents his rage on the soldiers and demolishes their tanks. Scared, Kid Flash and Artemis make another run for it, but he trips over and the pair falls down a slope. As two drones open fire at them, Artemis lines up an arrow but is disconcerted by Miss Martian's voice in her head, and misses. Miss Martian arrives and disposes of the drones. She convenes with Artemis and Kid Flash, who assumes she's Martian Manhunter in a new guise. She tells them that she is his niece and calls Kid Flash by his real name. She further assures them that they are friends and part of a team, but it's hopeless, as they don't remember it. The trio then heads out to find Robin and Superboy.

Superboy is restrained by soldiers, who struggle to contain him. A hooded man—Psimon—uses his telepathic powers to subdue the bewildered hero. They drag him into a truck and drive off. Meanwhile, Aqualad is lying unconscious in the vicinity.

Later that night, Robin arrives to a place marked in his GPS where he finds a mysterious apparatus. He attempts to investigate up close, but he is attacked by hidden soldiers. They try to capture Robin at their queen's behest, but Robin takes them on. Eventually, Kid Flash and the others arrive to aid him. After subduing the soldiers, Robin salutes Kid Flash and is relieved to see a familiar face. Robin reports he is also suffering from memory loss and proposes that they compare notes.

They figure they are a team, along with Superboy, and Robin assumes they must work for Batman, as he remembers him ordering radio silence. Kid Flash suggests they might as well be working for his mentor, and accidentally stumbles upon his stealth-tech switch, which the others don't seem to have. Miss Martian gathers the group in her mindscape. She asks them to open their minds so that she can piece together their fragmented memories. Artemis is initially reluctant to let her probe her mind, but as the others agree, she consents Miss Martian to dig only as far as the past six months. As she does so, the quartet remembers Batman deploying them to investigate a power surge in the Bialyan desert. They landed in Qurac—Bialya's border. They found a tent guarded by soldiers and Miss Martian pursued to investigate in camouflage mode. Aqualad instructed her to maintain a telepathic link, and the heroes suddenly realize they are missing another teammate, but they can't remember anything else. Robin locates Aqualad on his scanner.

Inside the guarded tent, scientists are running tests on a massive sphere and Superboy. As they electrocute the teen, the sphere seems to react to his pain, which fascinates Psimon.

The Team finds Aqualad delirious due to dehydration. As the Bio-Ship is out of reach and Kid Flash is too low on energy, Miss Martian is the only one who can do something about it. However, she insists she must find Superboy urgently, because he didn't exist six months ago, and all he has now is animal impulse. Kid Flash argues that Superboy is indestructible, while Aqualad is on the brink of death, but upon sensing Superboy's pain, Miss Martin takes off to find him.

She arrives at the tent, sneaks pass the guards and turns off the torture device. However, Psimon senses her and remarks she must be a glutton for punishment. He unleashes a telepathic attack to erase her memories again. Miss Martian now recalls when she infiltrated the tent the day before and found the sphere being tortured. She could feel its pain and tried to reach out. However, Psimon interfered and used Miss Martian's telepathic link with her teammates to erase their memories. As he tries to repeat the deed, Miss Martian fights back and the two telepaths engage in a mental spar.

Robin, Kid Flash and Artemis drag Aqualad across the desert to safety, but struggle to elude more soldiers. Underarmed and worn out to fight them head on, Robin ducks out. Meanwhile, Kid Flash asks Artemis to explain that story about her father wanting her to kill him. She claims that she got confused with the plot of a ninja movie she had seen before. The two start bickering and Robin returns to reveal he used his communicator to lure the soldiers away. As they are stymied by explosives, the heroes pursue their escape.

Psimon bests Miss Martian in their telepathic battle. Inside the tent, Superboy wakes up and spots the camouflaged Miss Martian with his infrared vision and then sees Psimon—both in a trance. As he becomes enraged, the sphere reacts and spins wildly until it breaks free and then releases Superboy. He lunges at Psimon but is thwarted by a psychic barrier. Superboy inadvertently touches Miss Martin and joins her in her mental realm. Psimon scoffs at her relief but Miss Martian asserts that now she can restore Superboy's memories. After getting his memory back, Superboy goads Miss Martian to vanquish Psimon, who arrogantly incites her.

Back on the tent, the sphere disposes of two soldiers targeting the heroes. Superboy hesitantly thanks it and then engages more incoming troops. Psimon and Miss Martian exchange psychic blows and her telekinesis flares out of control, creating a psychic tornado inside the tent. Superboy reaches to her and the two join forces to effectively expel Psimon from of her mindscape. Back to reality, Psimon is engulfed by the torpedo and is hurled away. Superboy secures Miss Martian in his arms and they nearly kiss, hadn't the sphere interrupted them. Superboy wonders whether he can keep it.

Aqualad is being nursed back to health in the Bio-Ship. Miss Martian contacts the Team to tell them that she found Superboy and both are en route. Upon this, Aqualad stands up in a jolt, confused by the voice in his head and the strangers around him. Miss Martian realizes she hasn't restored his memories yet, and Kid Flash bemoans he also forgot to collect a souvenir from the mission. However, Miss Martian assures she took care of it, as the sphere speed rolls behind them.

Psimon reports to the Light that he lost both the sphere and Superboy. However, a female member of the council dismisses his plaint, saying that the important thing is that their new partner's delivery system has demonstrated to function efficiently. She goes on to say that technology alike will follow and it will overpower both the sphere and even Superboy.

Title
The title may refer to the fact that the entire Team is deprived of (bereft) their memories from the previous six months, or even that they are deprived of one another at the beginning of the episode. Additionally, the Sphere was bereft from her home world.

Cast and characters
! colspan="3" | Uncredited ! colspan="3" | Non-speaking roles
 * Stephanie Lemelin
 * colspan="2" | Artemis
 * Jesse McCartney
 * colspan="2" | Robin
 * Danica McKellar
 * colspan="2" | Miss Martian
 * rowspan="2" | Nolan North
 * colspan="2" | Superboy
 * colspan="2" | Superman
 * Khary Payton
 * colspan="2" | Aqualad
 * Jason Spisak
 * colspan="2" | Kid Flash
 * Bruce Greenwood
 * colspan="2" | Batman
 * Marina Sirtis
 * L4
 * Alan Tudyk
 * Psimon
 * colspan="2" | Kid Flash
 * Bruce Greenwood
 * colspan="2" | Batman
 * Marina Sirtis
 * L4
 * Alan Tudyk
 * Psimon
 * Alan Tudyk
 * Psimon
 * Alan Tudyk
 * Psimon
 * Danica McKellar
 * colspan="1" | Marie Logan/Megan Wheeler
 * colspan="1" | Marie Logan/Megan Wheeler
 * colspan="3" | Amazo (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Aquaman (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Bane (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Black Canary (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Blockbuster (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Captain Marvel (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Dubbilex (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Flash (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | G-Elf (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | G-Gnome (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | G-Troll (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Green Arrow (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Guardian (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Kent Nelson (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Mammoth (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Martian Manhunter (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Mister Twister (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | MONQIs (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Professor Ivo (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Professor Ojo (flashback only)
 * colspan="2" | Queen Bee (photograph only)
 * colspan="3" | Red Tornado (flashback only)
 * colspan="2" | Sphere
 * colspan="3" | Zatara (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Guardian (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Kent Nelson (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Mammoth (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Martian Manhunter (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Mister Twister (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | MONQIs (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Professor Ivo (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Professor Ojo (flashback only)
 * colspan="2" | Queen Bee (photograph only)
 * colspan="3" | Red Tornado (flashback only)
 * colspan="2" | Sphere
 * colspan="3" | Zatara (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Professor Ivo (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Professor Ojo (flashback only)
 * colspan="2" | Queen Bee (photograph only)
 * colspan="3" | Red Tornado (flashback only)
 * colspan="2" | Sphere
 * colspan="3" | Zatara (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Red Tornado (flashback only)
 * colspan="2" | Sphere
 * colspan="3" | Zatara (flashback only)
 * colspan="2" | Sphere
 * colspan="3" | Zatara (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Zatara (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Zatara (flashback only)
 * colspan="3" | Zatara (flashback only)

Continuity

 * This episode begins amidst the mission that Batman assigned to the Team in the end of the previous episode "Downtime". We also see the complete scene from a different point-of-view.
 * The Team lost their memories of the last six months, placing it before "Independence Day". This is why Robin makes the "under/overwhelmed" remark again and Superboy is only driven by basic instincts.
 * In Miss Martian's flashback, she remembered making the Team cookies. Aqualad was not present because he was talking to Batman, as seen in "Downtime". Thus, that a part of "Downtime" was not seen and the result of her not remembering him until she gave mental mind restoration to Artemis, Robin, and Kid Flash.

Ratings
"Bereft" garnered an average of 690 thousand viewers among kids and boys between 9 and 14.

Trivia

 * Main title clips:
 * Superboy tears his shirt in rage (00:57)
 * Artemis running away from Bialyan soldiers (03:48)
 * Bialyan soldiers holding weapons (08:48)
 * Robin spotting something (01:58)
 * Miss Martian flying in the desert (04:20)
 * Kid Flash and Artemis caught in an explosion backlash (03:30)
 * Number 16: Miss Martian wakes up alone and amnesiac in the Bialyan desert on September 4, 00:16 EEST.
 * The photograph of Queen Bee that Batman shows on-screen matches the character's official artwork, also seen in her promotional playing card released at the San Diego 2011 Comic-Con.
 * This is a featured episode in Young Justice: Season One, Volume Three.
 * The DVD closed captioning for this episode reveals the identity of L-4.

Goofs

 * In the previous episode, "Downtime", Miss Martian wore her normal, white costume at the briefing. In Robin's memories, she was wearing her stealth costume.
 * When Kid Flash boasts about his brilliant brain during the trip into Miss Martian's mind, Artemis's emblem is missing.
 * Before Miss Martian goes through the memories of Robin, Kid Flash and Artemis, the latter two hold each other's hand. While Miss Martian went through their memories, Kid Flash and Artemis weren't holding hands anymore. As soon as their memories are restored, the two are shocked to find that they're holding hands, and let go again.
 * When Kid Flash and Artemis fall after running away from the little shack, they land so close to each other that their hands almost touch. When viewed from behind, along with the exploding shack, they're at least two foot apart.

Answered questions

 * Who is Artemis's father? (Answer #1, Answer #2)
 * Where did the Sphere come from? (Answer)
 * Is it good or evil?
 * When Miss Martian restored Superboy's memories, there was a glimpse of a white creature never before seen. What was it? (Answer)
 * Likewise, there was also a glimpse of a cheerleader who looked like Megan. Who was she? (Answer)

Unanswered questions

 * Why did Queen Bee want Robin alive?
 * Who is the Light's "new partner"? answered