GUIDES – EPISODE REVIEWS – “EBB TIDE”
Ebb Tide
Original Airdate – March 31, 2022
Synopsis: Clark Kent gets all the news that’s fit to print, and Kaldur’ahm hears old family stories from his parents.
Written by Greg Weisman
Directed by Christina Sotta
Review by Yojimbo
Media by Warner Bros. Animation
Please note our regular reviewer, “GregX,” is currently on sabbatical.
Review:
Written by Yojimbo, edited by James Harvey
Note: These observations also cover “Nautical Twilight” and “Emergency Dive.”
Suffice it to say, a lot of things go down in these three episodes. While on one hand, binging three episodes in a row was a welcome respite after the 3 month wait between new episodes. On the other hand, Young Justice is best digested on a one episode per week basis and in addition it’s a lot more fun speculating week to week. And this 3 episode launch cuts down the season run by 2 weeks. I’m sure HBO Max has metrics and their analysis to back this streaming pattern that they do not just for Young Justice but the majority of their titles, but it just felt like the stakes and tension of this arc were bludgeoned by having three episodes all at once. I know you’re not supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I’d trade 2 episodes for an early season renewal instead.
Kaldur’s personal sub-plot is all too familiar and parallel’s Beast Boy’s. Rather than taking the advice of his family and friends, Kaldur’ahm shoulders the many responsibilities of Atlantis, the Justice League, and mourning Conner all at once. And the sub-plot of the B story seems to be help: Violet seeks out help in continuing her own journey and has a talk with Gabrielle’s mother Madia about Islam, Saturn Girl and Chameleon Boy take a big risk and seeks out Superman’s help to repair the time stream then seek out the current Kid Flash, and lastly, Beast Boy continues to refuse help from his family and friends but thanks to red tape, there’s one more “obstacle” in his so-called full proof self-medicating, Black Canary.
Now Atlantis. Playing up the contrast of an open minded sexuality with scarce resources, economic disparities, and military tension. It’s intriguing, although not 1:1, Weisman and Vietti has again brought to light a DC civilization where there’s trouble beneath the surface, literally and figuratively. The first arc of this season brought Mars and its plight to our attention, worse than anything M’gaan hinted at previously in the series.
Obviously, the big surprise of this arc is Conner. I was convinced that tease at the end of episode 13 was all we were getting for awhile but here we are with Conner in a state between life and death in a limbo dimension that reeks of the Phantom Zone. It seems like a slam dunk that Phantom Girl tried to use her ability to spare Superboy at the last second but the gene bomb explosion did something and they both got shunted to the Phantom Zone which comics fans knows has had ties to Phantom Girl’s powers. To complicate matters, we know from the Mars arc that Phantom Girl hadn’t exactly mastered her powers just yet. In addition the monster aptly named Devourer seems a lot like an Earth-16 take on Aethyr, the only living being that exists in the Phantom Zone in the comics. While I am a little on the fence of being “tricked” and it turns out we didn’t see the totality of what happened in “Involuntary,” on the bright side, we have an out and Superboy wasn’t killed off after all.
The third part of each episode being a rotation of everyone else came off as unwieldy at times. Yes, it ties into Kaldur’s arc about shouldering it all and thus, it’s not random sub-plots being thrown into the pot. And yes, I love that season four is focusing on the original members of the Team and these sub-plots are for other originals, Leaguers, season 2 additions, season 3 additions, etc. so they don’t lost in the shuffle. Give the fans more bang for their buck, show us the fully rounded universe, keep the character arcs of new characters like Violet and Forager moving forward instead of on pause, check in on the Legionaries, keep this Beast Boy sub-plot going to wherever it’s going. Still, it feels like too much is going on from too many directions especially with big cast of characters in Atlantis and all the different storylines converging on each other. It gets overloaded, can’t it just be loaded?
In any case, Young Justice is back and not holding any punches. The second half of season four features a long awaited return to and focus on Atlantis and expands on its lore and cast of characters as well as a strong focus on Kaldur’ahm while also juggling the ongoing arcs of the Conner Kent, the Legion of Superheroes, Violet Harper, and Garfield Logan. Things in Atlantis seem to be on one big collision course. Can’t wait for next week!
Nautical Twilight
So a few steps back to the night Artemis Crock found out about the death of Conner Kent then shifts to Kaldur’ahm’s point of view on that Watchtower scene in Tale of Two Sisters. A bit hammy exposition-ish bit for Dick Grayson to try and convince him it’s the right time to take some time off. If Dick has no arc or a short one, I wouldn’t complain. He’s had a large focus in season 2 and 3, so him being more of a background character is a bit of a reprieve.
No surprise Kaldur’ahm denies anything is wrong. Considering how season 4 started with some sociopolitical commentary on Mars, not shocked at the reveal the Atlantean city-states are in contention with each other over increasingly limited resources and Poseidonis has become the poster child of the haves in the “haves and have-nots.”
Ocean-Master has somehow returned. Having the trident is a total tell, to us the audience anyway, the Light made a Cadmus clone. If you remember season one’s “Downtime” and/or read the tie-in comics, specifically Issue #14 and #15, the representatives will all look familiar and a nice treat to long time fans. Though convenient that all former classmates of Kaldur’ahm at the Conservatory of Sorcery are now important political or military figures from their home city-states: Lord Ronal of Crastinus in the Arctic Ocean, Prime Minister Topo of Lemuria in the North Pacific, Emissary Coral of Neptunos in the South Pacific, King Nanaue Sha’ark of Nanauve and the Southern Ocean, General Lori Lemaris of Tritonis in the Indian Ocean, and First Citizen Calvin Durham of Shayeris in the North Atlantic.
A double edged sword, imo, is what a big who’s who of Atlantis we’ve been given in this arc. Important to show different points of view but got a little much after awhile. Sticking to canon, no shock Mera is from Xebel and the daughter of the current king. Then there’s the reveal that La’gaan is a soon-to-be-father with Coral but they are also in a bisexual polygamist marriage. Did not see that coming.
Last but not least, Violet Harper seeks out Madia Daou in Happy Harbor. Turns out Secretary-General Troia helped get her and Samad’s visas approved and they’ve relocated to the US. At least the show hasn’t forgotten about Biayla and Qurac. Glad they are moving forward with Violet’s character arc and they’re further addressing her study of Islam (and her sexual identity). Also a welcome sight to see Violet’s also been working on her powers and she heals a minor burn for Madia.
Ebb Tide
Ok, skips a few weeks forward to May 14 and both Kaldur’ahm and La’gaan haven’t made any headway in finding Ocean-Master and unrest is growing in Xebel thanks to King Nereus. I enjoyed we also getting some focus on Orin in this arc and see him contemplating the conflict about Ocean-Master’s random attack versus his tried and true M.O. of being so methodical or why he waited so long to attack after he escaped prison. Then the reconstruction efforts in Poseidonis as a statement that Ocean-Master didn’t win but there’s the whole issue of how the people perceive it. Another issue of perception I liked was how Orin was the side of logic and reason while Mera was the side of faith and belief during the discussion of current events being part of the Prophecy of the One True King. Points to Orin for rightly being skeptical with the timing.
I chuckled at Sha’lain’a and Calvin immediately knowing Delphis asked Kaldur to call them and they joke he would have “eventually.” I’m totally the same way. And synching within the Zatanna arc. No surprise Ocean-Master would turn on them. Loved the shocker that the Good Samaritan was Arion. Er, well appears to be Arion.
If Phantom Girl’s inclusion wasn’t enough, I think the rules about solid and the Devourer monster cement this is the Phantom Zone. In the comics, there was only one living being that lived in the Phantom Zone named Aethyr and this Devourer looks loosely based on it. So idk, I guess for drama sake, Phantom Girl isn’t going to wake up before Conner runs into Zod and company.
lol at Saturn Girl’s reaction and playing along with Superman! Glad we got direct confirmation the LoSH has been attempting to prevent Superboy’s death as it as disrupted the time stream and turned the future into a galactic disaster. Why the heck did the assassin do that just to make the future so chaotic. Chaos. Hmm. Oh, they’re stranded in the present. That explains their cameo in that one end credit scene. Intriguing that Superboy was so important, there’s a specific event in Happy Harbor on May 14, 2030 that must be preserved. Wonder if we’ll ever see that event, lol. Hmm, ok, so they’re probably going to Bart so Saturn Girl can look into his mind and see how he built a time machine.
Emergency Dive
Ok, shifts a month to June 1. So each episode takes place in another month. Getting close to the July 4th anniversary. Testing done on Arion is inconclusive but do confirm relation to Vandal and Cassandra Savage and Mera feels his magic is a much older strain than any they ever encountered before. Ok, hard to fake the latter.
Orin tasks Kaldur’ahm with a covert operation to Xebel to locate the crown to either prove or disprove the prophecy once and for all. lmao, oh yeah, this show was originally about covert ops. I enjoyed Delphis. Disobeying Kaldur yet saving his butt and joining the mission. Sound familiar? She might just fit in on the Team, lol. Huh, so Ninth Tride, Ondine, the previous references to Krush and the Widowhood, someone on the staff’s been reading Aquaman volume 8.
Again, dug the Detective Orin stuff, tricking Orm in prison into revealing he isn’t the real deal. I think it’s pretty clear the Light is after Arion’s crown. It’s a major Lord of Order artifact with a lot of power to it. And gives a lot of street cred to whoever wears it. Throwing in an Orm clone to sow unrest and chaos and play up the prophecy sounds like a very Light thing to do. But Arion. Is he complicit and acting on Vandal’s orders or another random pawn? At first I thought it could be Vandal with a Glamour Charm but there’s the Order magic thing that’s hard to fake. In Ebb Tide’s end credits, Vandal’s new project name did sound like it was alluding to the three in the Prophecy of the One True King. The crown would solidify his new role with Order and Chaos…
Conner Kent is starting to go a tad looney tunes with his hallucinations. But wow, the Match bit snapping Superman’s neck then seeing himself in Match’s body! Guess that’s supposed to be a consequence of a living being being in there too long.
Finally! Finally Megan deals with Garfield and an intervention is staged. Obviously it would fail but rather than abuse her powers, kudos to Megan playing an ace, a mandatory mental health check with Black Canary.
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