The penultimate episode of Young Justice: Phantoms, “Over and Out”, gives the audience a shocking chapter in the saga of Superboy's retrieval from the Phantom Zone. This season has not held back any punches in regards to the storytelling, and “Over and Out” delivers on that streak of boundless creativity and enticing narratives. With a variety of surprising twists and turns, it's quite bizarre to think that we only have one more episode this season to potentially wrap everything up. However, considering how imaginative and well-written “Over and Out” was, there's little doubt that the season finale will not fail to satisfy most fans who've been keeping up with this enthralling season!
We pick up where we last saw our lead characters with many of the original Team members still in the Phantom Zone. Meanwhile, Miss Martian, Superman, and an assortment of other heroes are still on Trombus, and on their own mission to save the young half-Kryptonian from his unorthodox purgatory. However, standing in their way is Lor-Zod, who's finally made proper contact with his mother, Ursa, and his father, General Dru-Zod. This certainly isn't a harmonious, heartwarming family reunion to say the least.
On the other side in the Phantom Zone, the original Team members, Nightwing, Aquaman II, Tigress, Zatanna, and Rocket, must face off against the other members of the House of Zod, who are still in their anguish-ridden abyss as only Dru-Zod and Ursa escaped for the time being. Given that they're still out of their element in the Phantom Zone, a rematch against their new adversaries will certainly be a tough task. Can our favorite heroes who we've watched grow over four seasons take on these seasoned soldiers and defeat Dru-Zod and his fearsome family? More importantly though, will Superboy come out of his trance and finally reclaim his true loyalties to his closest friends, family, and fiancée?
First and foremost, one of the most impressive elements of this episode was arguably the surprises thrown at the audience. Without delving into too many details, certain characters will take on unexpected monikers that are well-known to many passionate comic book fans. More astonishingly though, major leads who've been with us since the beginning might even be out of the picture per say with what went down in this episode. Whether or not they'll be resurrected in the season finale next week, very few, if any, viewers could've expected to have seen such beloved characters suffer a potentially gruesome fate!
Considering how this episode was written by Greg Weisman, who's one of the main minds behind the entire series, “Over and Out” was guaranteed to knock it out of the ballpark in regards to many factors, especially pacing. The episode goes by fast, and it has to when you consider that it balances so many storylines and characters in separate scenarios. However, it never feels rushed or inorganic, all of the groupings featuring characters like the original Team and the antagonistic House of Zod get an ample amount of screentime and character growth. In situations like this where we're nearing the season finale and have this many characters and storylines being juggled, it'd be easy to have this episode be unintentionally jumbled or paced too fast or too slow. In this case though, Greg delivered a top-notch addition to this spellbinding season that was flawless from a perspective of episodic structure.
The ending itself leaves us on an absolutely captivating cliffhanger that will tantalize viewers to their cores. Without giving away too much, it seems like one of our favorite heroes has fully given into the temptations of the House of Zod. They're ultimately put into a position where they have to prove their loyalty by committing an utterly horrific act in front of multitudes of terrified onlookers. Not only does it act as a strong hook into the season finale, but it also provides us with more depth into said character's season-long journey and how they've adapted to their ghastly surroundings. The culmination of this cliffhanger will be upon us soon, and the ending scene helps further our anticipation for what's to come in the coming week.
Overall, “Over and Out” is another outstanding addition to this already phenomenal season that highlights the major strengths of a storyteller like Greg Weisman. The twists and turns are beyond unexpected, and leaves the audience dying for more. The tone and pacing in this episode flows quite naturally, and nothing feels overtly out of the blue nor unnatural. Arguably one of the most important elements though is that stupefying ending and where it could lead for the grand finale of Phantoms. To conclude, “Over and Out” is one of the strongest written episodes of the season and keeps the viewers at the edge of their seats until the season finale next week!