GUIDES – EPISODE REVIEWS – “RESCUE AND SEARCH”
#94 Rescue and Search
Original Airdate – May 12, 2022
Bart Allen went shopping. Zatanna Zatara stops by to talk baseball. Daring Dan Danger returns.
Written by Charlotte Fullerton
Directed by Christopher Berkeley
Review by Yojimbo
Media by Warner Bros. Animation
Please be advised our regular reviewer, “GregX,” is currently on sabbatical.
Review:
Written by Yojimbo, edited by James Harvey
While on one hand, Dick Grayson has had a big role in the past three seasons and it was nice for him to finally have a break from the show… on the other hand, it was so fun seeing him get back on the metaphorical bicycle and do what he does best. The structure of the episode was really entertaining and engaging as well with Dick and Zatanna carrying out their investigation step by step, gathering more and more clues and evidence, making more theories, convincing the skeptics, gathering up the old gang again, and there was even some laughs for us along away.
As the start of the final arc of the season, the episode was stealthily done to recap things without feeling like a standard and didactic clip show as well as progress things far along for the protagonists connecting just about everything that has happened this season and doing the heavy lifting of setting up the final trajectories of all the players this season to inevitably criss-cross into one big finale.
There was also a lot of neat callbacks sprinkled throughout from the return of Dan Danger and Haly’s Cirus from season one, Clark once again being approached in Bibbo’s and even commenting on it, and the cameos of Tye Longshadow, Asami Koizumi, Holling Longshadow, Shelly Longshadow along with Jaime and Traci in the Haly’s audience.
I didn’t really get why Tigress was on the Watchtower for Zatanna and Nightwing to go over the security footage but I suppose she happened to be on duty when they went there and naturally, there had to be an organic way for her to join the investigation and then she’s the one that helps link events to the League mission to New Genesis. Logically, Rocket’s memory of the finale of the fight on New Genesis is the final piece of the puzzle and Nightwing pretty much figures it all out. I guess that’s why he’s the Boy Wonder–er is it Man Wonder now? Number five on the list turns to be Kaldur’ahm in Poseidonis. Fresh off his one month sabbatical, he’s that guy in the heist movie you take the least amount of time to convince. Kaldur looks at Nightwing’s board and the rest of history.
While it makes sense that Will Harper was not approached because he’s mostly retired, a dad, and runs a company (and didn’t have his own story arc this season), the noticeable omission was M’gaan. Maybe she was off on a Team mission. Maybe they wanted to spare her from the possibility that they can’t save Conner. I suspect she’ll still find out about their little op in due time. Who better to home in on Conner in the Phantom Zone and to get to work repairing the mental damage?
Plan A never works, especially on Young Justice. But if it’s Klarion, at least it’ll be a little scary then a little hilarious. From the “Who dares summon–hey” to the typical banter with his feline familiar, he does not disappoint. I get it makes sense because Klarion was the one that teleported to the Phantom Zone during the Zatanna arc but still. I don’t know if it was an eye roll moment or subtly hilarious that Zatanna didn’t think of finding the school bus that Klarion possessed first rather than risk certain death by summoning the Chaos Lord. In any case, Nightwing tracking down Metropolis school bus should be a piece of cake, right? Hopefully it hasn’t been retired and crushed at a garbage dump. Granted they do find the bus, connect to the Phantom Zone with magic, and the OG Team rides the bus in that prison dimension in search of Conner, what about Phantom Girl whom they have no clue about or the Kryptonians who will try to hitch a ride.
Even then, lacking the technology of the Phantom Zone Projector, what’s going to happen to Conner and Phantom Girl when they cross over into the real world. Do they revert to their physical bodies? If their physical bodies or what’s left of them are still on Mars, it’s gonna get gross. Okay, it magically feels like the former but given this is Young Justice and nothing ever really wraps up nicely, I can see them unwittingly bringing an extra passenger back home with them, Dru-Zod. Think the ending of Big Trouble in Little China, lol.
Speaking of Dru-Zod. Boy did one of the worst possible things happen. He and Faora ask the right questions and learn a lot and that spells trouble with a capital “TROUB.” Not so much the fate of Krypton or Superman’s origin story. They learn about the benefits of a yellow sun to a Kryptonian. I guess the only glimmer of hope here is they think Superman is dead. And yay, Phantom Girl was playing possum the whole time. But will Conner hear her out and take her side or simply out her to the Kryptonians? He did pledge himself to Zod prior. For that matter, it’ll be interesting to see if Phantom Girl is stranded there, too, or if she can simply use her powers to leave and return to the real world. Another interesting tidbit is Faora mentioning Zor-El had a daughter. Which most DC fans know is Kara Zor-El or Supergirl. First, Zor-El comes up during the Rocket arc. Now, his daughter is mentioned. Really does feel like Supergirl is on the horizon.
So let me get this straight, it took Lor-Zod and Ma’alefa’ak about a week hiding in the cloaked Bio-Ship to find the intel about the Kaizer-Thrall? Alright. I just to love to hate how petulant Lor-Zod is. He disrupts the timeline. He tries to steal from a New God. And now he’s going to try and steal from the Green Lantern Corps. This could prove to be one for the Lantern fans, a look at Oa that’s been mentioned off and on since season two and probably the introduction of even more Green Lanterns on this show at long last and the Guardians even. I don’t feel too bad about the beat down Lor-Zod is in for. I’m sure Kilowog has his hammers ready.
And speaking of Oa, we get our first look at the planet in the end credits and a partial introduction to another new character, Green Lantern Soranik Natu. That alone is intriguing enough, the daughter of Sinestro. With the reveal that the other Lantern Corps are already in existence, it seems like a given that the Sinestro Corps might be around instilling fear in the galaxy. But that aside, we get a final reveal in the last moments of the episode. Not only is Kaizer-Thrall sentient but it contains the remnants of an 11 year old human boy… what?! Could the boy be Sonny Sumo? And lastly, rest in peace, Mr. Ed Asner. Mr. Asner passed away on August 29, 2021 and was the voice of Kent Nelson in season one of Young Justice amid a long and prolific career.
The final arc of Young Justice: Phantoms has just begun. Writer and director respectively, Charlotte Fullerton and Christopher Berkeley crafts a strong opening for the season’s closing curtain with the personal and galactic stakes at their tipping points. Everyone in the original Team minus Will and M’gaan have come together to get Conner back but Plan A was a bust. Soon enough, Zatanna has Plan B up and ready for Nightwing but will this one work? We shall see. And will M’gaan be brought into the fold? But even if they succeed can they restore their friend back to normal? Will Superboy heed Phantom Girl’s plea or betray her to the Kryptonians? Lor-Zod and Ma’alefa’ak plot to liberate the Kaizer-Thrall from Oa, the stronghold of the fabled Green Lantern Corps but to what end? To go back in time again and steal the Phantom Zone Projector from themselves for a do-over? All three parties appear to be heading to a definitive collision course that will decide the fate of the galaxy and the life of a dear friend as the final four episodes of the season draws near. Stay whelmed. Get traught.
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