We open with Green Lantern chasing the Gentleman Ghost in the skies above a city; the Ghost gets the upper hand until Hawkman intervenes by capturing Ghost in an Nth-metal-reinforced net, negating his ability to escape them. Lantern grudgingly thanks Hawkman for the help, and the latter departs after making the request that he tell Shayera that he said hello. Shadow Thief witnesses this encounter and begins his plan.
At the Metro Tower, Shayera and Vixen are working out in the rec room. The two women trade barbs with each other over Lantern. Shayera half jokes about not knowing the proper protocol about getting John back. John enters as Mari is leaving,and the two set up a date, but before Mari leaves, Shayera throws her back her water bottle. Knowing that Shayera joked about "poisoning your water", as she leaves, she throws the water bottle in the trash can outside the rec room, not wanting to take a chance of drinking poisoned water. However, John is preoccupied with something else as he asks to speak to Shayera alone. Hawkman's reappearance is commented on as an encounter with her stalker boyfriend, but Shayera seems unconcerned by Carter's return.
The next day Mari is off to a photo shoot though catches Shadow Thief phasing through the wall into the apartment she is sharing with John. She and John battle him, but it takes a step up after Mari is knocked out. In the end John is beaten and taken hostage, and Shadow Thief announces he is after Shayera next, and he tells Mari to stay out of it. Shayera and Mari head for Midway City Museum to find Carter. Shadow Thief thanks her for coming, since he doesn't have to hunt her down at all. The two women battle him unsuccessfully. Mari tries to free John but gets thrown into the next room and ends up buried underneath the collapsing T-Rex display. He then manages to throw Shayera into a wall, but she keeps falling before finally stopping on the floor two levels down. Hawkman arrives, but he is unable to beat the Shadow Thief. Shadow Thief takes both down and he binds them up around the Absorbacron, the same memory interface that gave Carter Hall the memories of Katar Hol. The memories led to Carter Hall's claim that he is the reincarnation of Katar and Shayera is the reincarnation of Chay-Ara. A pair of Thanagarians that were stranded in Ancient Egypt and became local deities as authority figures. John, Shayera, and Carter awaken to the Absorbacron and Shadow Thief forcing their free hands to touch it. A memory flashback is begun where Katar and Chay-Ara are shown being welcomed as royal and religious figures in Egypt. Katar is bent on bringing the benefits of Thanagarian advances to this land whereas Chay-Ara wants to have a child. He insists that it will have to wait, but it is then that Bashari returns announcing another success in the field. He also brings horses as tribute from this new land. Chay-Ara comments that horses are unnecessary for her, due to her wings. He offers to show her, and they ride horses through the city, then the aqueducts, and finally into the desert before stopping near a watering hole. He drinks from the cistern, then she does, but she spills all over her face. He wipes it off her face, but she grabs his hand before he can let go. She removes her headdress, and they kiss. Hath-Set had followed them and after he alerts Katar to this interlude, but Katar refuses to believe his wife and his closest human friend would do this to him. He observes their return, which seems friendly at first, but when they kiss in front of him, he smashes a section of the balcony railing. He mutters about wishing they were dead, and Hath-Set takes this as literal.
A chamber attendant runs away from Chay-Ara's room screaming and Katar grabs her for a moment before going into the room himself to find her and Bashari dead. A poisoned wine had killed them. Heart Broken, he seizes her limp body in his arms before Hath-Set arrives announcing that it was done as he commanded so. Katar yells at him to leave, and the priest looks mortified, now understanding that Katar's jealous comment was in haste not truth. Katar drinks the wine after the priest leaves and the wine glass clatters to the floor. Katar and Chay-Ara's corpses have their hands entwined, mirroring the sarcophagus in their joint tomb where Carter found their bodies and the Absorbacron years before. Shadow Thief then reveals why he is doing this: he is the incarnation of Carter Hall's deepest, most unspeakable desires, the perennial villain to the 'reborn' hero. He captures Shayera to reunite them and captures John in order for Carter to regain her by killing John. Carter instead frees John. John makes a splint with the power ring and goes after Mari. However, he does share that bittersweet momentary stare with Shayera. They still feel for each other, maybe even still love each other. John gets to Vixen while Shayera and Carter battle the Shadow Thief. Carter realizes the only way to beat the Thief is to deny him battle and integrate him back into his psyche. Though the Shadow Thief struggles against it, Carter is successful, and prepares to bid Shayera farewell. As she approaches, he holds her face tenderly in his hands, and admits that they were not meant to be together; he flies off, and she is left to herself again.
Back at the Metro Tower, Vixen is recovering, and Shayera comes out to find John at the window. He finally tells her about the time he and Batman went to the future. He tells her about their son, Warhawk, but then contends that if they are destined to be together, it will be on their terms, not those of fate. For now, he is staying with Vixen, choosing his path. Later, Shayera visits Batman while he is working alone in the computer lab. Sitting down beside him, she makes the request: "Tell me about my son".
Tropes:
- Author Appeal: Episode writer Geoff Johns had, along with David S. Goyer and Rags Morales, revamped Hawkman in the early 2000s and established the reincarnation elements of the modern Carter Hall (which this episode utilizes). Similar to Gail Simone writing the Birds of Prey-inspired "Double Date" the previous Season, this also makes it a case of Promoted Fanboy.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Katar discovers Chay-Ara and Bashari’s bodies, a long pool of red liquid can be seen flowing from the bed, implying they were stabbed to death. And then it pans up to show that Bloodless Carnage is in effect, with the liquid being red wine.
- Call-Back:
- Shayera's asking Bruce about her son recalls Bruce's own request to Matthew Thorne to tell him about Thomas Wayne.
- Chay-Ara's unmasking and first kiss with Bashari mirrors ending of Wild Cards, even in the music that plays.
- Driven to Suicide: After his advisor poisons his wife and best friend, Katar drinks the poison himself to join them in death.
- Enemy Without: Shadow Thief was actually created as a desire for Carter/Hawkman to have a villain to fight.
- Foregone Conclusion: While Shayera and John do not get back together on-screen before the end of the series, we know they will eventually reconcile, and that Rex Stewart will be born (and follow in his parents' heroic footsteps) come Batman Beyond.
- Get Out!: Katar to the vizier.
- The Ghost: As mentioned below, Teth-Adam (the alter ego of Black Adam) is named, but never seen.
- I Wished You Were Dead: Katar wishes this - and ends up regretting it.
- Internal Homage: Parts of the flashbacks to the ancient past are very similar to scenes from "Wild Cards" and "Starcrossed".
- Internal Reveal: Shayera finds out that Green Lantern travelled to the future and met their son, Warhawk.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Shadow Thief orders Hawkman to do this to John. He refuses.
- Mythology Gag: Reporting victory in Kahndaq, Bashari says they have been given a tribute from a grateful Teth-Adam.
- Odd Name Out: Carter and Shayera's previous lives get names that are almost direct homophones of their current names (Katar and Chay-Ara). John gets...Bashari. Maybe it's because there's already a John homophone in this series.
- Ominously Open Door: At the museum where Carter works.Vixen: Since Hawkman's tangled with this guy before, he might be able to give us a lead - what's wrong with this picture?
- One True Love: This episode greatly implies that John Stewart and Shayera Hol are soulmates. John, however, refuses to allow himself to be destiny's puppet and stays with Mari.
- Reincarnation: Carter, Shayera, and John knew each other in a previous life.
- Reincarnation Romance: A Love Triangle. Carter and Shayera's previous incarnations Katar and Chay-Ara were married, but Katar's decision to focus on the expansion of Egypt caused him to neglect his wife (who desperately wanted to bear his child). The lack of intimacy eventually drove Chay-Ara into the arms of John's previous incarnation Bashari, who was Katar's best friend.
- Rhetorical Request Blunder: Katar's advisor takes his "I wish they were dead" literally.
- Screw Destiny: John insists that whatever happens between him, Mari, and Shayera has to happen based on choice, not predetermination.
- Tell Me About My Son: Shayera ends the episode by asking Batman about Warhawk.
- Undying Loyalty: Deconstructed. Katar's advisor was so loyal to him that he took a statement that Carter had made in the heat of the moment and followed through with it by murdering Chay-Ara and Bashari. Katar did not take it well.
