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"Rescue and Search" is the 22nd episode of the fourth season of Young Justice, and the 95th of the overall series. It debuted on May 12, 2022 on HBO Max.
Logline[]
Bart Allen goes shopping. Zatanna Zatara talks baseball. Plus, the return of Daring Dan Danger!
Synopsis[]
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Lor-Zod and Ma'alefa'ak take control of Bio-Ship after taking the Legion and Kid Flash hostage.
Lor-Zod breaks free of Rocket's force bubble and tears his way aboard the camouflaged Bio-Ship. He takes Saturn Girl hostage as Ma'alefa'ak density shifts in next to him, and demands the crew fly the Bio-Ship out of there. Kid Flash reacts at super speed and goes to the hold to grab some inhibitor collars, but Lor is able to track his movement and uses his heat vision to destroy the collars and take him down. Chameleon Boy shape-shifts into a large creature, but Ma'alefa'ak copies him and easily overpowers him. The Bio-Ship generates a pair of energy weapons on the ceiling, but Lor holds the crew's lives hostage, forcing the Bio-Ship to stands down and fly away as ordered.
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At the Haly International Traveling Circus, Jack Haly introduces his star attraction, Daring Dan Danger, and narrates his death defying, space travel-themed trapeze act, ending with a quadruple flip through a burning ring.
Backstage, Dan, or rather Dick Grayson, is approached by Zatanna. She needs a detective.
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Superboy reveals the events surrounding the gene-bomb explosion that somehow lead him to being sent to the Phantom Zone.
At Fort Krypton, Dru-Zod and Ursa Zod talk to Superboy as Phantom Girl lies beside them. Dru suggests that the fact that he was unknown to the Phantom Zone Projector's security system suggests Superboy was not convicted by Krypton. Superboy remembers his hallucination of killing Superman, and admits there was no conviction. Superboy recounts his memories of the bomb on Mars. Dru surmises that Superboy was a hero, given his attempt to disarm the bomb and "save" Dru from the Projector. Dru asks about Superboy's lineage. Superboy initially remembers Lex Luthor, but after the Zods don't recognize the name, they encourage him to remember his family crest, and Superboy draws a simple version of the crest of the House of El in the ground. The Zods immediately recognize it and are displeased.
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Zatanna convinces Dick to investigate and determine if Conner is still alive.
At the warehouse, Dick tells Zatanna he is skeptical of her belief that Conner is still alive, but Zatanna convinces him to try looking for 24 hours, showing him her vision of Conner. When Dick accesses the computer system, both are surprised to find an alert that Kid Flash has gone missing. They decide to look into it both for Bart and Conner's sakes and on the off chance that the two missing Outsiders might be connected. Dick checks Bart's credit card records and finds security footage from a shop he used, where he is accompanied by two strangers. Facial recognition does not find the identities of the two strangers, but a search for them in other footage soon finds a result.
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Clark Kent sips coffee at Bibbo's Diner, when Dick and Zatanna sit either side of him and ask for Superman's help, to his exasperation.
Back in the Phantom Zone, Superboy remembers his Kryptonian name. Dru and Ursa psychically discuss whether he might be the child of Jor-El or Zor-El, wondering if they could have been in the Zone for such a long time. When asked, Superboy describes his origin as a clone of Superman, and upon questioning, identifies Superman as Kal-El, son of Jor-El and Lara El. When Zod asks how old Superman is, hoping to know how long had passed on Krypton, Superboy tells them that Krypton was destroyed more than 40 years ago, with Kal-El as its sole survivor, before he "killed" him.
Dick and Zatanna question Superman about his encounter with the mystery teens.
At a booth in Bibbo's, Clark, Dick and Zatanna talk freely under the cover of an aural glamour. Dick shows Clark security footage of him talking with the two strangers at Bibbo's months before. Clark is reluctant to offer any details, even though Zatanna presses a need-to-know to help find Bart. Clark asks if there was any indication of foul play, and Dick admits it appears Bart was with them freely, Clark will only go as far as saying that he had reason to trust them, and leaves it at that.
Back at the warehouse, Zatanna vents her frustration at Clark. Dick believes Bart was preparing for a mission, and wonders what else he might have needed.
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Tigress reviews inventory records for Nightwing and Zatanna. She finds a pack of five inhibitor collars, a space-belt and a Zeta-Tube power core missing. Running the security footage frame-by-frame reveals a shoe that is unmistakably Kid Flash's.
The mystery teens have been keeping close watch on Superboy for a whole year.
Artemis joins Dick and Zatanna at the warehouse. She is also dubious, but Zatanna asks her to keep an open mind. The computer announces another match for the strangers' faces; the girl was a waitress at the Team's private party a Bibbo's a year before. Another result appears; the boy at the protests outside the United Nations building the day Superboy publicly revealed himself. Zatanna suggests the strangers may have been following Conner specifically. Dick remembers that Bart took a space-belt, suggesting his mission was not on Earth. Artemis tells him a Justice League squad just came back from an off-world mission involving a time-traveling Kryptonian. Noting that Bart is also a time traveler, Dick wants to talk to that mission's leader.
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Dick begins to unravel the mystery and conspiracy behind Conner's disappearance.
At Raquel's apartment, Dick asks her what destroyed the Phantom Zone Projector. Raquel says she isn't sure, but if she didn't know it was impossible, would guess it was a beam fired from a camouflaged Bio-Ship. Artemis and Zatanna note the connection to Mars and Conner. Raquel is confused at the mention of Conner, but Dick wants to see Raquel's memory of the destruction of the Projector. Raquel obliges and Zatanna casts the spell. The three visitors gasp as they see Raquel's recollection of the glimpse she had of the Zone. Zatanna shows a confused Raquel her vision of Conner, confirming he is alive and is trapped inside the Phantom Zone. Artemis notes that Bart is still unaccounted for, but Dick suggests he may be on a parallel path to them and suggests he and the two strangers were on the Bio-Ship that destroyed the Projector. Artemis is dubious, but Dick carries on, positing that Superman may have been reluctant to share details for fear of harming the time-stream, and that time-traveler Bart is with two other time-travelers, who have intel on the time-traveling Kryptonian, the Phantom Zone and Conner's imprisonment. Raquel thinks Dick is reaching, and Dick admits he may be, but suggests Bart appears to have chosen where he is, while Conner needs their help. Raquel wonders what they can do with the Projector destroyed. Zatanna has an idea, though she doubts the others will like it.
Phantom Girl warns Superboy they are both in danger from the House of Zod.
Back in the Phantom Zone, Ursa grabs Superboy, calling him a liar, but Dru calls her off, wanting to hear more. He asks how Krypton was destroyed, and Superboy tells him about the sun exploding. Dru then asks how Kal-El survived, and after Superboy explains about the rocket and how no-one else believed Jor-El's warnings, Ursa asks where Kal-El was sent, leading Superboy to reveal Earth and the fact that Kryptonians gain superpowers under a yellow sun. Dru explains his feud with the El family, and tells Superboy he is glad he "killed" Ka-El. Ursa wants some "air" and Dru accompanies her outside. Once they are gone, Phantom Girl sits up and warns Superboy that they are both in great danger.
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Nightwing and Rocket Zeta to meet with Aquaman, protected by a force bubble. Nightwing asks if Kaldur is back in action, and Kaldur says he has returned to duty after taking a month off to process Conner's death before Nightwing says he has to tell him something.
At the warehouse, Kaldur examines Dick's corkboard tracking the case, and asks what they need.
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Inside the Tower of Fate, Zatanna explains that she will summon Klarion, using the others as anchors. He will be trapped in the summoning circle, only able to exit into the Tower with them, something Zatanna believes he will not do. They will let him go only if he releases Conner from the Phantom Zone, knowing that Klarion had been there before.
Zatanna performs the summoning spell, but Klarion readily steps out of the portal. As much as he hates the Tower, he cannot let the summoning go unpunished. He creates four clones of himself, and each one attacks one of the summoners, using their own powers and abilities against them. With the squad getting easily beaten, Zatanna casts another spell, calling upon Klarion to honor his debt to her for helping return him to the material world in the name of the holy balance. Klarion merges back with his clones, and the Lords of Chaos, speaking through Teekl, compel him to do so. However, Klarion chooses to honor the debt simply by not killing them, and leaves, complaining that being stuck in the Tower is worse than being trapped in the school bus.
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The camouflaged Bio-Ship holds position near the floating city. Saturn Girl, now bound by an inhibitor collar along with Kid Flash and Chameleon Boy, taunts Lor-Zod for overplaying his hand by going after the Projector after he had completed his original objective of killing Superboy; he had won, but by getting greedy and trying to get his parents out of the Zone earlier, he had caused the destruction of their only way out.
Lightray flies up from the city and density shifts aboard, before reverting to his true form; Ma'alefa'ak. The Martian telepathically reports to Lor that the Kaizer-Thrall has been taken to Oa. Bio-Ship shuts down its controls, but Lor threatens to kill his hostages once more to secure cooperation. Lor directs Kid Flash to man the Cosmic Treadmill, noting that if he plays along he might find an opportune moment to turn the tables. Bart complies and Lor adjusts the collar to give him back his speed, though not before shocking him. After adjusting the collar, the Bio-Ship heads off for Oa.
Back at the Tower of Fate, the group recovers from their battle and their seeming dead-end. Zatanna has come up with a Plan B however, provided Dick can track down a ten-year-old school bus.
End credits scene: On Oa, the Kaizer-Thrall is scanned as Green Lanterns Soranik Natu and Forager observe the results. Soranik notes that the Kaizer-Thrall is indeed sentient, and detects the remains of a humanoid; an eleven-year-old human boy. The Thrall begins to beep rapidly, leading Soranik to believe he is trying to communicate.
Title[]
The title is a reversal of the phrase "Search and rescue," which means looking for and helping people in danger. This refers to Zatanna and Dick's quest to get Superboy out of the Phantom Zone, with the backwards wording reflecting Dick's tendency to create unwords.
Cast and characters[]
| 0 | Character debut |
| 0 | Speaking debut |
| 0 | Episode debut |
Continuity[]
- The first scene picks up from the previous episode, where Lor-Zod and Ma'alefa'ak threatens Kid Flash and Chameleon Boy to move the Bio-Ship for Saturn Girl's sake. Here we see what happened between the threat and the takeoff.
- Dick Grayson returns to Haly International Traveling Circus, using "Dan Danger" as his alias, which he used previously in "Performance".
- In the previous episode, Zatanna mentioned she needed a detective who turns out to be Dick.
- Dru-Zod tries to uncover Superboy's backstory, following the findings from the previous episode.
- Superboy has flashbacks of his hallucinations of Match killing Superman in "Emergency Dive" and Lex Luthor in "Beyond the Grip of the Gods!". He also recounts the gene-bomb incident from "Involuntary".
- Zatanna shows Dick her vision of Superboy in "Kaerb Ym Traeh!" and her failed seance to locate his spirit in "Odyssey of Death!".
- The scene at Bibbo's Diner with Clark being approached by Zatanna and Dick mirrors the scene where Saturn Girl and Chameleon Boy did the same in "Ebb Tide". Likewise, Clark is reading a newspaper with a front page headline about a recent event; in this case, the Earth-New Genesis-Green Lantern Corps treaty reached at the end of "Odyssey of Death!".
- Superboy blurts out the pre-programmed Cadmus mission statement that he iterated in "Fireworks".
- Dick alludes to Bibbo Bibbowski's abduction by the Kroloteans in "Players, Chapter Six: Rolling Doubles".
- Clark is unforthcoming about the identity of the Legionnaires, because of what they confided in him in "Ebb Tide", namely to prevent changes in the timestream.
- Dicks pulls up footage of Saturn Girl posing as a waitress in Bibbo's and Tod Donner's live report outside the UN, both from "Nevermore".
- Amistad Ervin is wearing a shirt resembling Icon's costume. His mother was his protégé during season one.
- Raquel shares her recollection of the Phantom Zone Projector incident in "Odyssey of Death!".
- Artemis remarks that Dick dated both Zatanna and Raquel, a fact previously established in "Players, Chapter One: Wheelbarrow, Shoe, Thimble".
- Kaldur'ahm mentions the sabbatical he took at the end of "Leviathan Wakes". Rocket also compliments the beard he decided to keep since then.
- Aside from the prints of the footage reviewed by Dick in this episode, his bulletin board also has a picture of Kid Flash from "Away Mission", another of Superboy from "Overwhelmed", a picture of Mantis from "Terminus", and a shot of Lor-Zod's Time-Sphere from "Odyssey of Death!".
- Zatanna mentions Klarion passing through the Phantom Zone, which was seen in "Kaerb Ym Traeh!" and "Leviathan Wakes".
- Zatanna assumes Klarion won't want to step inside the Tower of Fate, because it's Doctor Fate's place of power. In "Early Warning", she teleported Klarion inside the Tower, in which he spent 16 days trying to escape.
- Zatanna reminds Klarion of how she helped restore him to the mortal plane in "Kaerb Ym Traeh!".
- Klarion laments to Teekl about being trapped in the school bus in "Og Htrof Dna Reuqnoc!", following the death of the first Teekl in "Teg Ydaer!".
- Soranik Natu and Mountain Forager are running tests on the Kaizer-Thrall on Oa, following its apprehension in "Odyssey of Death!".
Trivia[]
- Number 16:
- When Nightwing tells Tigress to review the footage of the super speed theft frame-by-frame, she begins rewinding the footage at the timemark 01:32:14:16.
- Zatanna begins the summoning ritual at the Tower of Fate at 00:16 EDT.
- This episode is dedicated to the memory of Ed Asner, the voice of Kent Nelson in "Denial". Asner passed away on August 29, 2021 at the age of 91.
- Nightwing's evidence board is a nod to how Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti plot out the seasons on color-coded 3x5 cards.[1]
Backwards spells[]
| Speaker | Spell | Translation |
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| Zatanna | Laever ym noisiv! | Reveal my vision! |
| Laever eht Ecnaes! | Reveal the Seance! | |
| Laever eht seiromem ew kees! | Reveal the memories we seek! | |
| Laever ym noisiv! | Reveal my vision! | |
| Drol fo Soahc, I nommus Eeht! | Lord of Chaos, I summon Thee! | |
| Gnikohc seniv, ekohc ym ymene! | Choking vines, choke my enemy! | |
| Sriats fo eht Rewot, nosirpmi mih! | Stairs of the Tower, imprison him! | |
| Ni eht eman fo eht Yloh Ecnalab, I egrahc uoy ot Ronoh ruoy Tbed! | In the name of the Holy Balance, I charge you to Honor your Debt! | |
| Xedni drac! | Index card! | |
| Klarion | Deew rellik, llik siht rellik deew! | Weed killer, kill this killer weed![nb] |
| Etim-O-nyd! | Dyn-O-mite! |
Goofs[]
- When watching the security footage "image-by-image", the time code goes 01:32:10:21, 01:32:10:22, 01:32:10:23 then 01:32:11:00 and 01:32:11:01. The theft happening between 01:32:11:00 et 01:32:11:01, it makes no sense as to why it would skip that way.
- Backward spells have always been cast by speaking verbal commands with each word read backwards, but without changing their order. Klarion's spells in this episode, however, were inverted audio of the actor's lines read normally ("Weed killer, kill this killer weed" and "Dyn-O-Mite"). Technically, this post-production inversion reverts the order of the words as well, translating his first spell into "Weed killer this kill, killer weed".
Cultural references[]
- Wizard of Oz reference: When Klarion is summoned into the Tower of Fate, he appears mid-air, with only his head in frame at first and speaking with an overly intimidating voice, before breaking character. This is a reference to The Wizard of Oz, in which the titular character presented himself in the same manner.
- Klarion's line "Anything you can do, we can do better!" is a nod to the 1946 show tune Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better), from the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun.
- Shakespeare reference: "Double, double, toil and trouble" is a line from William Shakespeare Macbeth (Act Four, Scene One). This line was also used in the recreated scene of the play in the episode "City of Stone" Part Three, from series producer Greg Weisman's Gargoyles.
- Klarion's second backwards spell, "Dyn-O-Mite", was the catchphrase of Jimmie Walker's character in Good Times.
- Zatanna refers to the school bus as "Magic School Bus", a alluding to the 1994 animated children's television series, based on the book series of the same name by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen.
Questions[]
| Questions |
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- For complete answers to the questions in this section, click here.
Answered questions[]
- How did Superboy and Phantom Girl become trapped inside the Phantom Zone? (Answer)
- Why does Zatanna need the School bus? (Answer)
- Why does Lor-Zod still want the Kaizer-Thrall? (Answer)
- Who is the Kaizer-Thrall? (Answer)
Quotes[]
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References[]
- ↑ Vietti, Brandon (2022-05-13). Tweet. Twitter. Retrieved 2022-05-21.
| ◄ Previous "Odyssey of Death!" |
Season four "Rescue and Search" |
Next ► "Ego and Superego" |