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Young Justice – Reviews – Season Four – Odnu!

GUIDES – EPISODE REVIEWS – “ODNU!”

Odnu!
Original Airdate – December 2, 2021
Zatanna and her protegees find themselves on the cusp of war.

Written by Jake Baumgart
Directed by Christina Sotta
Review by Yojimbo
Media by Warner Bros. Animation
Please note our regular reviewer, “GregX,” is currently on sabbatical.

Media



Review:

Written by Yojimbo, edited by James Harvey

We’re in the third arc of the season already, where does the time fly? In any case, a strong and focused season continues with Zatanna in the lead role. Paying off another thread started in the canon 2020 audio play “The Prize,” the fans get to finally see who Zatanna’s proteges are: Thirteen, Khalid Nassour, and Mary Bromfield.

Introduced last season with some development, it’s a boon to see Thirteen take a starring role and learn more about her. Already off the bat, she’s with her familiar Leroy the iguana. Khalid seems a very interesting choice as a relatively new character tied to Dr. Fate in the comics. Lastly, Mary Bromfield! Long-time fans will remember that there was a planned story arc in the tie-in canon comic books centered around the Shazam Family that would an introduced the Earth-16 versions of Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., Kid Eternity, and The Wizard but it wasn’t to be and the powers that be wanted the stories to shift to the Invasion era. Since then, it was revealed Mary was going to appear in an episode of Invasion but it didn’t happen due to time and production constraints.

Here, as a former hero and member of the Team, it’s no surprise things didn’t go so well in Mary’s recent past and hopefully we’ll continue to get more answers to the questions we fans have had for a decade or more. Not ready? Had to give it up? Can’t even say “Shazam”? Is no one on the Team past or present spared from a great tragedy? This season is titled Phantoms after all, and the past two arcs haven’t been shy about it. It stands to reason, Zatanna’s will come to the surface as well in this arc.

In terms of the episode’s threats, it was a surprise to see the Trogowogs. It’s a fun in-media-res threat to introduce Zatanna and her students to as well as set up their sub-plots with some constructive critiques. But primarily, we have to introduction of the Lord of Chaos Child and anchor Flaw from the comics. An enemy of Amethyst in the comics, with so little exposition, it was intriguing to see Klarion react so out of character when he senses her and the utter disdain in the last scene. Unlike Klarion’s visage, Child’s really does mask her sadistic streak which is on full display when the late Marvin Fargo is discovered in the jewelry store.

This episode does kind-of prompt the question of why is Child seemingly doing a remix of “Misplaced” or is the spell she’s casting on Roanoke Island even worse? The line at the beginning noting the imbalance once caused the destruction of the old universe isn’t very settling. If the first being Child summoned was Klarion, who else in the evil magic community will fill the other spots and is her aim to ferment the utter annihilation of the current universe?

Another great twist and surprise, is Vandal Savage’s part in the arc. Much like last season’s “Evolution,” we’re witness to more of Vandal’s back story as well as the mythos of Earth-16. It was one thing to have confirmation he didn’t waste much time fathering any of his apparently many, many, many metahuman progeny and it was a whole other mind blown moment to finally learn how he and Klarion first met (and how it’s an intriguing mirror of how Vandal and Darkseid first met). But the biggest reveal was maybe Vandal saying his home was … Atlantis?! Also, the debut of Phantom Stranger! It’s such a fun, surprise-filled episode!

Well, there’s less fun with Beast Boy, clearly sleep deprived and even starting to look gaunt. It’s clear he hasn’t taken Saturn Girl’s advice and this week’s den mother Blue Devil tries to be delicate with him like Wonder Girl in a past episode. It’s heartbreaking to see Beast Boy in such dire straits. Yes, it makes sense with the main story implying a cosmic imbalance is on the horizon to show us one character’s growing imbalance. And, on the other end of the spectrum, the brief scene with the Light continues the background thread of the metahuman situation in Markovia as well as confirming Troia is now the current United Nations Secretary-General.

Overall, this season has been an entertaining blast to the past and building on elements that go as far back as the first season. Likewise this week, the return of Madame Xanadu was a welcome sight. No longer a con artist, it was pleasing to see she’s embraced her true destiny as Kent Nelson alluded to all those dozens of episodes ago. But as she humorously notes, favors don’t keep the lights on. Another fun callback was Klarion alluding to last season’s “Early Warning” when Zatanna trapped him and Teekl in the Tower of Fate.

For those that thought the action and intensity wouldn’t compare to the street level martial arts battles last arc, Zatanna and her proteges’ battle against Klarion doesn’t disappoint! When Mary takes some of Klarion’s chaos energy and then evokes Hercules and clocks Klarion into a wall, reducing him to a puddle? Perfection.

“Odnu!” builds up to a foreboding reunion between two Lords of Chaos with cosmic stakes that touches every corner of the supernatural community, and hits close to home for a lot of The Team. Even a backwards magic spell can’t undo the trauma, the pain, or the consequences that hang over the heroes in Young Justice: Phantoms, like veritable ghosts.

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