Eht soahc raw sehcaer sti ylemit dne!
After five weeks, Zatanna’s arc rounds out the first half of the season with “Kaerb Ym Traeh!”, and boy are our hearts broken. Between all the action, the heartache, and the shocking revelations, there’s so much to unpack that we’re just going to get right to it! As always, here’s your spoiler warning for the newest episode. If you haven’t seen it yet, go watch it, because it’s not one to be missed!
In the midst of the heroes attempting to save Australia, Vandal Savage pops up and recruits the Phantom Stranger for a little side mission. This mission in question is actually reasoning with both the Lords of Chaos and Lords of Order in an attempt to have them stop Child from, you know, destroying the entire planet. After a bit of back and forth, he succeeds in getting the Lords of Chaos to remove their support for Child, and thus she loses their external power.
Meanwhile, over with Zatanna and Co., we return to the hilarious Klarion the Bus Boy saga. Understandably, Zatanna and her sentinels are quite surprised to find their former adversary is now, well, a school bus. They reluctantly agree to team up in order to stop Child and also promise to return the cursed school bus inhabitants back to their correct time. As they leave the frozen tundra, we get a sweet little Easter egg of Ice and Isis (!?) appearing to clean up the lingering disaster.
The first stop on the journey to stop Child is a creepy animal shelter in Salem in an attempt to find Klarion his new anchor. After seeing several options for cute cats, Teekl 2.0 is found and bonded as Klarion’s new familiar. Never expected to be rooting for Klarion and baby Teekl, but here we are. The bus full of children (and Charlie!) is left in the relative safety of Salem while Zatanna, her team, Fate and Klarion summon Child. After losing the support of the other Lords of Chaos, she’s not nearly as strong, but she still manages to hold her own against Klarion and Fate. That is until Traci wises up and uses her bad luck magic to strike Flaw’s crack in his heart, effectively breaking his heart (ba dum tss), and removing Child from this world.
With the problem of Child effectively handled, there remains one last thing to solve. As it turns out, in the beginning of this arc, Zatanna decided on a new plan for her sentinels, effectively training them to take the helm of Dr. Fate. After the chaos war, both Khalid and Traci proved themselves ready for this responsibility, while Mary, who lusts a little too much for power, is sidelined. Mary is not happy about this and storms off to Fawcett City, where an eerie voice (Granny Goodness!) tempts her into saying Shazam and becoming Sergeant Marvel again, foreshadowing a slew of problems to come. But that’s an issue to worry about later! Currently, and very understandably, Khalid is not jazzed about Zatanna’s proposal that she, Khalid, Traci and her father will each take the helm of Dr. Fate for a week. Don’t blame you, Khalid, it definitely comes off a little sus. And given that Zatanna doesn’t even have a valid answer for him doesn’t help things in the least. For now, though, it is what it is and after ten years she is finally able to reunite with her father. So all's well that ends well, we suppose!
Over with Beast Boy, Perdita appears for a surprise visit. To our relief, she picks up on the fact that Beast Boy is a giant, walking red flag of depression symptoms and attempts to talk some sense into him. Queen Perdita for the win. Unfortunately, Garfield is still unwilling to accept help or help himself, and because Queen Perdita waits for no man, the two break up, leaving Garfield’s problems still unresolved and hanging eerily for the return of 4b.
Last, and definitely not least, we received the confirmation that we’ve all been waiting for: Conner! That’s right, his spirit is still alive and desperately seeking help somewhere out in the universe that we daresay might be the Phantom Zone.
As befitting a midseason finale, this episode really packed a tight punch. Between juggling the different plot lines and trying to wrap up every single story, we felt that the episode did a pretty good job of it all. While we’re still questioning Zatanna’s decision to secretly groom her sentinels and take on Dr. Fate’s mantle without necessarily telling them, we’re on board with Zatara finally being freed. Our only wish was to see the fight between Child and everyone to be a bigger deal, as after four episodes of buildup, we assumed it would take a lot more to bring that little chaos gremlin down. You win some, you lose some.
“Kaerb Ym Traeh!” serves as a great conclusion to Zatanna’s arc. This latest episode showcased some fantastic visuals, plenty of humor, and quite a few touching moments. Between cooing over baby Teekl, cheering over Child’s demise, crying over Zatara being freed and screaming over Conner, we’re pretty much spent and ready for the short hiatus until 4b airs!
What did you think of the midseason finale? Do you think Conner will be rescued? Are you ready to start a campaign to get Beast Boy to go to therapy? Let us know in the comments, the forum, or on our Twitter!
