GUIDES – EPISODE REVIEWS – “OVER AND OUT”
#97 Over and Out
Original Airdate – June 2, 2022
You can go home again… but beware of hitchhikers.
Written by Greg Weisman
Directed by Christopher Berkeley
Review by Michael Tanaka (Yojimbo)
Media by Warner Bros. Animation
Please be advised our regular reviewer, “GregX,” is currently on sabbatical.
Review:
Written by Michael Tanaka (Yojimbo), edited by James Harvey
Okay, that left things in even worse shape than last episode. Dru-Zod and Ursa Zod have escaped the Phantom Zone. Ursa is know an Emerald Empress. Nightwing is dead. Rocket is MIA. Superman is about to be killed. Sounds like a penultimate episode to me. And definitely a devilish script written by none other than Greg Weisman designed to throw the fans into an upheaval for a week straight until the season four finale streams.
So what gives? Rocket backed up into that portal. She should have returned to Metropolis. The closure of the Boom Tube messed with Zatanna’s portal like it did with her glamour? Perhaps Rocket ended up transported to someplace else other than Metropolis. Or is stuck in the Phantom Zone. Would two original members of the Team get killed off in the same episode? As for Nightwing, that was stunning and horrifying. It’s improbable. But they killed off Nightwing. We saw his head bleeding. Lor-Zod heard his heart stop beating. Please tell me there’s something in that Fortress that’s going to restore him back to life like the Regeneration Chamber from the comics… or that Cosmic Treadmill didn’t get destroyed in the crash and they undo Nightwing’s death. I suppose in retrospect, we’ll end it was telegraphed at the start of the arc or even boldly stated when Nightwing quoted The Lord of the Rings but that was of a wizard who seemingly perished only to come back even stronger that ever to help save the world… is the Fortress going to turn Nightwing into the Eradicator? Nah. Hmm.
Not even Superman could jilt Superboy. Stood his ground against Zod, good on him. But now, he’s facing certain death and certain death on a cliffhanger to boot. Can he utter one last phrase that can get through to Superboy? Will someone intervene at the last second? And Zod’s giving it a public display to assert himself and assert his claim on Earth. That’s like ringing the bell for the Light and the Justice League… and everyone else to show up in full force. Methinks we’ll see a ton of heroes duke it out in Metropolis next episode. But three powered Kryptonians with no qualm about killing, one of them enhanced greatly with the Eye of Ekron, a Martian telepath, a brainwashed Superboy, and the Kaizer-Thrall. Seems a new and very formidable Fatal Five has assembled. Er, Fatal Six.
So did anything good happen in this episode? Well, okay. Everyone’s just about back on Earth. Phantom Girl was reunited with Saturn Girl and Chameleon Boy. Only Dru-Zod and Ursa-Zod escaped the Phantom Zone. It’s still night. Ma’alefa’ak seems to be getting annoyed with being ordered around. Hoo boy. Talk about being moded. I guess we just might see the Light come to the aid of Justice League, Team, and Outsiders. I still adamant that Vandal Savage won’t roll over to Dru-Zod and let him alter his plans for Earth and Lex Luthor has got have a bunch of anti-Kryptonian weapons laying around that would prove very useful in this situation.
Naturally, the same recurring callbacks are present in this episode like Conner’s flash of Phantom Zone memories from “Forbidden Secrets of Civilization’s Past,” “Ebb Tide,” “Beyond the Grip of the Gods!,” and “Emergency Dive” at the end in Planet Circle, mentions of Rao, Krypton, and Tigress mentioning Conner’s refusal in “Zenith and Abyss” but also some dot connecting like Dru and Lor alluding to the New Genesis incident in “Odyssey of Death!,” Superman referring to seeing Zatanna and Dick in “Rescue and Search,” and Miss Martian thanking Bio-Ship for coming out of retirement that it started in “Involuntary.” Lor-Zod naturally alludes to the original Emerald Empress when explaining the Eye of Ekron. Tigress and Aquaman mention the Spartans and the Battle of Thermopylae. Orion says a very Star Trek thing. Planet Circle at the end has a lot of great blink and miss easter eggs on the various signs: “The Great Khan” from last season, GBS, Goode World Studios, G. Gordon Godfrey, Tod Donner, Stargirl/Courtney Whitmore (guess she’s public about her identity), Classic Comedy Network, Wayne Foundation, The Mysteries of Udolpho, Space Trek 3016, 1K Wordsworth, and Flitter-International.
The second to last episode of Young Justice: Phantoms doesn’t fail to leave us shocked, speechless, and aghast. The stakes are at its highest for the fates of our heroes, of Earth, and perhaps the soul of Conner Kent. “Over and Out” horrified us with the supposed deaths of two original members of the Team, Nightwing and Rocket, and leaves us with Superman’s life hanging precariously in the balance. It just seems like nothing short of a miracle will be required prevent utter devastation and defeat.
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