User blog comment:Thailog/Ep. 201 "Happy New Year!" discussion/@comment-4803246-20120428162658

Oh, man. Greg Weisman, you have really out done yourself this time. This. Is. AWESOME. The plot of this season is going to be outstanding, I can already tell. And I can tell you more than that. So we did have a timeskip. And it was abrupt. But there was a reason; there is always a reason with Greg Weisman. First of all, this future (and it should be considered, not only the future, but a future) is the classic future-gone-wrong scenario. Which means the present is still a factor. We started the episode and the season with a flashback to the present, and then went straight to this future, because we will be having many more flashbacks to the present (notice: present, not past). These flashbacks will grow more frequent and more prominent as the season goes on, until they equal this future in importance. By that time, I'd say it will be the season finale. Either that or the mid-season finale, but which one it is really depends on what Weisman and Vietti are going for, which we have no way of knowing for sure, so let's just pretend for now that it is the season finale. Much simpler. Eventually, and this will be at the season finale, some action in the present will negate this future, and we will move on to season three focusing solely on the present Team, perhaps plus or minus a few characters. I feel like I'm forgetting something here, but let's just move on for now.

Okay, so that will be the plot of this season (more or less), but the drawback will be that the characterization in YJ will be largely sacrificed in order to make room for this amazing plot. And what characterization there will be will largely be confined to the flashbacks in the present, as there are simply too many characters in this future to offer any sort of in-depth characterization. That said, in Happy New Year! we saw Dick Grayson (now Nightwing), Superboy, Miss Martian, Zatanna and Rocket. We did not see Kid Flash, Artemis and Aqualad. Zatanna and Rocket joined the League, while Dick, Superboy and Miss Martian turned down their offers and stayed with the Team. So what happened to Wally, Artemis and Kaldur? Well, I'm sorry to say this, but Wally and Artemis are most likely dead. Yup, sad. I don't think Kaldur is dead since we have seen pictures of him in a new, Mass Effect-type outfit. My guess is that he is either with Red Arrow, helping him look for Speedy, or he went back to Atlantis forever. Probably the former. Something happened at one point that killed Wally and Artemis, and caused Aqualad to abandon the Team and the League. And it is probable that Wally and Artemis's deaths and Aqualad's departure are related. It should be noted that it is possible that Wally is still alive, but if he is, then Artemis is still dead, and he is with Aqualad, and both of them are with Red Arrow. I don't really have any explanation for how I know all this, it is more of a gut feeling than anything, but it does make perfect sense. The only sense right now. I have been wrong before, though. I don't think I am now.