Sgniht era gnitteg esrow...
If you thought that the last episode revealed the world of magic in Young Justice, then this one begins to tear it wide open from start to finish. The stakes continue to rise, the players in the game continue to grow, and things do not look good for our heroes, our villains or any one in between. Lets dive deep and hope we come out the other side!
We open again on Vandar Edge and the earliest days of Atlantis, and we see it begin to rise to the technological prominence it is still known for. The first immortal from Vandal’s line is born and Arion, Lord of Atlantis, sits upon the throne. Arion is then designated as a Lord of Order and the infusion of magical power leads to the creation of the homo-magi in the world. Atlantis continues to thrive as technology and sorcery advance the city for all its people. With the addition of Vandal’s help, Atlantis becomes the capital of the Atlantean kingdom, and the rift between Arion and Vandal begins.
Vandal’s plan was to sink the Atlantean capital to begin taking over the area beneath the sea so that the world can be taken over in full. Arion refused to sink the town because of the deaths it would cause. Vandal then seeks out the assistance of Klarion to do what his grandson Arion would not. Klarion helps to sink Atlatnis, but is empowered by the other Lords of Chaos to continue. He sinks the entire continent of Atlantis into the sea, killing Arion and countless more. The treasures of Atlantis were lost to the sea as well, but some Atlanteans survived to become the city we now know.
We cut back to Baby, where we find a hilariously classic road trip scene. Em’ree asking “are we there yet,” and J’onn not getting the joke and buying all in is as good as Em’ree’s explanation. Following this is a great conversation of family wanting to help, Em’ree chooses to start a fight with M’gann about going to Earth and starts psychically yelling about everything. "I'm a professional guidance counselor, Em'ree! I know you're just trying to bait me into a catharsis!" "Is it working?" "Kind of!" will likely be one of the favorite lines from this episode. Then what may be one of the most discussed scenes happens, and the bus from early in the season, and from seasons gone by, almost hits Baby IN SPACE a WEEK OUT from Earth…
We find Zatanna and her proteges still recovering from the fight with Klarion. Before they can figure anything out at all, the Phantom Stranger arrives to add another layer to the story. We cut to hear that the Child has arrived not to assist Klarion, but instead to destroy and replace him due to his failures. After finding out that Klarion is fighting another Chaos Lord Zatanna is given some perspective by Phantom Stranger she is transported to where Klarion and Child are fighting. Child reveals that she is using the power of all of the Lords of Chaos and Klarion seems hard pressed to win. Stranger then transports the proteges to find someone to help Zatanna. The proteges find themselves in the Sanctum Sanctorum of Jason Blood, and we now know who Stranger seeks to assist Zatanna. We get to see the spell and transformation of none other than Etrigan.
Etrigan calls out Mary for having the power of Shazam hidden inside her, and he says he doesn’t want to help. Thankfully for us Stranger cares little for where people want to go, and transports Etrigan into the middle of the fight between the Lords of Chaos. We get to see one of the largest displays of magic so far in the form of a “rock tsunami.”
The battle between the Lords of Chaos continues leading to Child squishing Klarion with the rock tsunami and wide spread destruction ensues knocking Zatanna out. Both Lords of Chaos leave, the proteges arrive and Zatanna admits she has enough perspective to know more help is needed. We cut to Vandal talking to his son Nabu about the balance of Order and Chaos and justifying the sinking of Atlantis. He discusses the use and control of Klarion and that the Child must me stopped. In out final scene Vandal begins operation Lifeboat and begins getting all of Earth’s resources onto the War World until further notice.
Where to even begin with this episode! We can say without a doubt that things are escalating and culminating and just generally -ating in a way that makes us scared for the heroes we know and love. Before that though, the scene on Baby was a great scene in that the relationship between Em’ree and M’gann is one that seems intended to grow and develop through this season and potentially beyond. That said, the scene with the bus is something that has raised more questions than just about any scene in the entire show. Like, how? Why? Wha!? We have too many things to think and worry about before that though.
The introduction of early Atlantis and the homo-magi sets the stage for knowing a majority of the magical history of the world from its inception to present which is a very interesting feeling as Young Justice fans. It is rare that we definitively know things, but the things we know we can say with certainty. Klarion’s prominent role throughout the world’s history feels both odd and makes perfect sense, and his connection to Vandal feels the same way. Ultimately, they are the oddest of couples, but they remain the foil to each other and working in concert to keep the scales of Chaos and Order balanced.
Many stones in the magical realm of DC are being turned over, and many more may yet be turned, but the introduction of Etrigan has happened! We know that he is a fan favorite, and his introduction feels much more like Chaos than it does order, but he did seem to align with Team Zatanna. Team Zatanna continues to expand, and at the very least we can assume Nabu is set to join them, but who else could as well? John Constantine, Madame Xanadu, Doctor Occult, or Ragman are all names that come to mind, but we will have to wait and see.
There are some episodes like this every season, in that they are a way to get us from here to there. As it stands on its own, on first viewing, there is so much being set up and so many questions unanswered that there is this sense of “why not more?” Why not more Zatanna? Why not more about the proteges? Why not more? This has another truly amazing fight scene that feels like it is somewhat lost in the midst of the questions, like how can you have a bus in space a week out from Earth!? But that will plague our minds for the foreseeable future. Thankfully we are all only a week away from another episode gracing the digital airwaves of HBOMax.
What did you think of the episode? Who do you think will join the fray next? Let us know in the comments and via our Twitter!