Young Justice Recap: Rescue and Search
Young Justice
Rescue and Search [S4.E22]
King Saturday 2nd’s Grade: A
Your favorite adult boy wonder is back for the final story arc of this season and wow, what a dick! Nightwing reunites with most of his all-grown-up Season 1 teammates to unravel the mysteries that have hovered over the entire season and kick some Chaos Lord ass. Young Justice’s slow building style of storytelling continues to be a compelling reason to watch and the most likely reason people don’t watch. But if patience isn’t your style, now is the perfect time to binge Season 4 because the seeds planted throughout this season and last are beginning to bear delicious fruit. And it’s even sweeter than I expected.
We pick up with Lor-Zod and Ma’alefa’ak hijacking the Bio-Ship from last episode. Kid Flash tries to save Saturn Girl but is not quite Flash enough to avoid being backslapped unconscious by the Kryptonian. Chameleon Boy gets K.O.’d by Ma’alefa’ak and with all three heroes dispatched the Bio-Ship has no choice but to submit to Lor-Zod’s command.
Meanwhile, Dick is up to his old tricks, literally. He’s performing for his old circus troupe when Zatanna finds him. She has an urgent need for his other talent – she needs a detective to find Superboy. Nightwing is certain that Superboy is dead dead but Zatanna convinces him to work the case for 24 hours and see what they find. Also, Kid Flash is missing. Someone should look into that.
Dick digs for clues and reunites with his teammates from Season One who have been separated and busy with their own teams and proteges and personal problems all season long. Once he has all the info he does some more acrobatics, jumping from clue to clue to conclude that Superboy is trapped in the Phantom Zone. Also, Kid Flash is probably fine. Superman vouches for the unidentified superheroes that Bart was last seen with and they’re probably looking for Superboy too.
To get to the Phantom Zone, Zatanna tries to call in a debt from Klarion but the Lord of Chaos doesn’t do debts so he slaps the Team around instead. Zatanna uses a spell to force him to honor the debt but he chooses to honor it by not killing them instead of helping. Luckily, Zatanna has one last lead to the Phantom Zone.
Speaking of the Phantom Zone, General Zod and Ursa question Superboy about why he’s in the Phantom Zone when he’s clearly not a criminal from Krypton. He catches them up on the fate of Krypton and of Kal-El and reveals that he’s a clone of Krypton’s last son. The House of Zod has a deep beef with the House of El so they take a walk to cool off before they do something violent. When they step out Phantom Girl (awoken from her coma by Saturn Girl last episode) warns Superboy that his new pals are bad news.
Back on the Bio-Ship, Ma’alefa’ak has discovered that the sentient Apokoliptan weapon that Darkseid loaned them has been sent to Oa for examination – so they set course for Oa.
MY THOUGHTS
* CREDITS SCENE: Usually these scenes are just small doses of extra flavor but this one drops a bomb on us about the possible origins of the Kaiser Thrall. I’m very curious to see where this leads.
* WHAT’S IN A TITLE: Last season, the first letters of all the episode titles spelled out a special message related to the plot of the season. This season is doing the same and although the message started out very innocent (INVITATION TO) it’s taken a dark, familiar turn towards the end of the season (KNEEL BEFOR…) and I am here for it.
* RESCUE AND SEARCH: The episode title seems to be a reference to how Dick likes to take common turns of phrase and turn them on their head. It could also apply to their plan for Superboy, whom they know needs rescuing but they don’t yet know how to find him to do that.
* ON SIGHT: The look that Zod and Ursa give Superboy when they see him draw the House of El crest is potent.
* LET ME FIND OUT: I think Tigress mentioned that Rocket also used to date Dick Grayson. They don’t spell it out but I think Dick Grayson in this universe is the memetic manwhore that he is in the main comics.
* BOW DOWN: The moment when Bio-Ship gives in to Lor-Zod’s threats feels like a low-key “kneel before Zod” moment.
* REST IN POWER: RIP Ed Asner. A character he voiced in the first season returns and this episode is dedicated to him. From Gargoyles to Superman TAS to The Boondocks, Ed was a true OG who has lent his iconic voice to some incredible characters. He will be remembered.
FINAL GRADE
Action: A
I was expecting a lot of conversating and dot connecting in this episode so I was pleasantly surprised to get an good action scene – especially one where the heroes barely survive. They are going to have a hard time with the final boss if they don’t get their shit together.
Drama: B
Not a lot of character conflict or growth in this episode, although we do learn about some history between characters.
Meta: A
The brief action scene on the Bio-Ship has a fun callback to one of the best moments from the Justice League movie. The Kaiser Thrall is probably a reference to something else from the comics and I can’t wait to see what. And seeing the heroes connect all the clues we’ve seen over the last season or more is immensely satisfying.
Final Grade: A
After teasing us for over a season, we’re finally getting the answers we’ve been after. I can’t wait to see how this all ends.