Today’s the day, readers! This is the episode we’ve finally been waiting for, where Dr. Jace is finally (finally) confirmed as a nut-job, and everything goes to hell. I feel so satisfied. Really. Every time I watch Jace’s monologue, I get a sigh of deep relief. Now I’m just waiting for her to finally get what’s coming to her.
So what exactly went down this week? Well, as Dick shakes with fever and the Batfam tends to him, Jefferson finally realize that something suspicious is going on. He puts the puzzle pieces together about the Anti-Light and then explodes in rage. Meanwhile, Tara and Deathstroke have a nice little heart-to heart, and Dr. Jace kidnaps Violet and delivers her to Granny. Fun times! Let’s dig into those in a little more detail, shall we?
- An Afternoon Meeting: Over in Mongolia, the Light listens as Granny explains how the team of heroes came to rescue Dick and Jefferson from her house. She is intrigued by Victor and Violet, but Ultra Humanite insists that he has plans for Violet, as he had first rights to her. Vandal, however, is not satisfied by this arrangement.
- Touching Reunion: Tara takes a casual 2AM stroll around Hollywood, but is quickly interrupted when Deathstroke corners her. He calls her out on lying to him and withholding information, something that Tara cannot refute (even though she tries). In a truly engaging interaction, he uses his position to convince her that the heroes are no good, and that they don’t care for her. In my opinion, their interaction was one of the strongest parts of the episode; it rings similar to what an interaction between Sportsmaster and Artemis would have been like while she was growing up.
- Death’s Door: Dick is still gravely ill, suffering from the effects of Granny’s ghost dimension. Many members of the Bat Family have come to tend to him, including Alfred, Barbara, Bruce, and Tim (in civvies for the first time!).
- Breakfast for Dinner: Vic, Forager, Brion, Violet and Gar sit together for dinner. Brion watches a video of a new group of heroic meta-teens that call themselves Infinity Inc. Garfield isn’t concerned by it; he sees it more that the Outsiders have inspired them to take action, and that’s a good thing in his book. Violet, being the precious child that she is, is disappointed that her powers are unable to help heal Dick. Gar wants to take down Granny, convinced that she has something brewing. He’s not wrong, especially given the after-credits scene we saw last week.
- Solving the Puzzle: While Dick rests with a mountain of ice atop of him (to bring down his fever), Bruce requests a word with Kaldur and M’gann. As they go off to the side, Jeff senses something suspicious. He finally starts to put the pieces together about the Anti-Light, and immediately blows up on everyone. Jefferson is unable to be calmed, or reasoned with, as his anger escalates to a point where he calls everyone out on what they’ve done. Tara observes it until Dr. Jace places a control chip on her, and leads her away.
- A Hasty Exit: Meanwhile, Vandal is requested for a meeting with Darkseid. As that goes down, Dr. Jace escorts Violet to her car, where Brion and Tara are already waiting. Dr. Jace insists that her mentor finally found a cure to heal Violet and that she told Tara and Brion about her condition so Violet wouldn’t have to. Yeah, super not suspicious at all.
- Facing the Music: Vic and Forager watch as everything goes to hell, all while munching on some popcorn; they clearly know what’s up. Conner and M’gann have a telepathic argument, and Jefferson is still going off on Kaldur and Bruce. Garfield talks to Tim and Barbara, asking if they hadn’t had enough of the secrets last season, with Artemis’ death. Boy, same. We all been knew. He finds out about M’gann’s involvement in the deal, where she posed as the little match girl in Dublin, and is subsequently quite angry with her. Barbara is able to talk a little bit of sense into him, but the same cannot be said for Jefferson. His anger is enough to rouse Dick from his sick-bed to attempt and make amends.
- Secret Arrangement: Dr. Jace brings Brion, Tara and Violet to her laboratory and instructs Violet to lie down on a scary-looking chair. As Dr. Jace prepares to inject her, Violet suddenly gets a memory. Before she can say anything. Ultra Humanite and Granny enter. Granny bids Overlord to put a cerebral-leash on Violet so she’s under her control. Dr. Jace wants to leave with Brion and Tara, but according to Granny, there’s been a change in plans. Seems that Darkseid wasn’t happy with Ultra Humanite’s claim on Violet. Granny asks Dr. Jace if she would like to see what they have planned for Violet, and Dr. Jace agrees. She lowers them all into the X-Pit before shoving Violet out. Instinctually, Violet begins to heal herself. With Violet’s healing aura activated, the ghost dimension repolarized Violet’s power, meaning that she is the key to solving the Anti-Life Equation.
- Batman Incorporated: Barbara confronts Bruce outside, feeling remorse after having seen everybody’s reactions. Bruce is unapologetic, insisting that the mission was what truly mattered and that they sheltered those on the outside for their own protection. Barbara, logically, raises concern with this mindset, wondering if it was the mission that was truly important, or Bruce’s own personal mission.
- True Colors: Finally, what this episode will probably be most remembered for. Granny shoves Dr. Jace outside of the cube. When Violet senses Dr. Jace’s suffering, she instinctively recites the healing incantation of the old gods, ‘healing’ Jace, while really subjecting her to the Anti-Life Equation. Under Granny’s control, Dr. Jace starts to spill all her secrets. Dr. Jace’s motivations lay in protecting ‘her children’, Tara and Brion. When she activated their metagenes, she considered them her ‘children’, and wanted to protect them. She was the one behind Gabrielle’s death, as once she tested negative for the metagene, Dr. Jace overdosed her with morphine. When Gabrielle woke up as the motherbox, Dr. Jace thought it was a delayed metagene activation caused by the morphine and took her in as her ‘child’ too. However, when the truth about Violet was revealed, she no longer wanted anything to do with her, especially because she was with her ‘true child’, Brion. She lied to Violet and told her that she was dying in order to drive a wedge between her and Brion. Given that this was a temporary solution and she wanted to have more children, she contacted Ultra Humanite and agreed to give him Violet in exchange for a safe exit with her children and a set up somewhere she could continue her work. Oh, and by the way, she also seduced Jefferson only so she could get closer to her ‘children’. Who could have seen that coming? Anyone? Anyone at all?
- No Longer Under Control: As Granny removes everyone from the X-Pit, she celebrates over Dr. Jace’s reveal and how she remains controlled by the Anti-Life Equation. However, not everything goes according to plan. Turns out, Deathstroke gave Tara a device to remove control chips, should she need it. She removes it from herself and Brion, and the two attempt to save Violet. However, it’s of no use. Granny boom tubes away with Violet, and Ultra Humanite does the same with Dr. Jace. Tara and Brion are left to deal with Dr. Jace’s truth and return home empty-handed.
- A Final Departure: Back at Outsiders Tower, Jefferson is about to make his exit but asks where Helga is. Gar informs him that she left with Tara, Brion and Violet a while ago. Moments after, Brion and Tara return to the tower, bringing with them the news of what occured. The Light conducts another meeting, in which Ultra Humanite reveals that he was never planning to go along with Dr. Jace’s arrangement. I mean, duh. That lady is crazy. Additionally, Ultra Humanite is angry that Violet was given over to Darkseid and Granny, especially now that she is the key to the anti-life equation. Vandal snaps his tablet in half once he hears it, so clearly this was not something that he was expecting anytime soon. Seems like he’s going to have to fix things, and fast. Jefferson is shocked at the news about Dr. Jace, and honestly, I feel little sympathy for any of them. That lady was shady from the start, and they should have looked into her far more than they had. But, that’s just me. Brion wants to rescue Violet, but they have no idea where she even is. On the Orphanage, Granny delivers Violet to… Other Granny? What? Yeah, I don’t have enough information to unpack this one. Guess we’ll find out soon enough!
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