As the Injustice Society of America come one step closer to accomplishing their mission, Courtney and the JSA face-off with Icicle and the villains of the ISA.
Tropes:
- And the Adventure Continues: For Justin. At the end, he parts ways with his new friends and leaves Blue Valley to search for his beloved horse, as well as reunite with the disbanded members of the Seven Soldiers of Victory.
- And This Is for...: After slashing his throat, Yolanda tells Brainwave that she watched Henry die, and now she's going to watch him die.
- And Your Little Dog, Too!: After Barbara refuses Jordan's offer to run away with him and derides him as insane, he grabs her by the face and tells her he's going to kill her husband and daughter before trying to throw her off the rooftop. Thankfully, Pat arrives in time and distracts him long enough for Courtney to ambush him from behind.
- Asshole Victim: Dragon King, Brainwave, and Icicle all meet their well-deserved ends.
- Bait-and-Switch: After Wildcat fights off Dragon King's goons on the way to confront Brainwave, one of the goons unmasks himself to reveal he's Henry Jr., who had apparently survived his father's attack. Yolanda eventually realizes that this Henry is in fact a disguised Brainwave, and slashes his throat to avenge the real Henry's death.
- Book Ends:
- The first episode opened on Christmas Eve, with a young Courtney waiting to give her father a special present. The final episode of the season ends on Christmas Day, with Courtney giving Pat the gift from ten years prior, revealed to be a homemade "World's Greatest Dad" mug.
- In Yolanda's focus episode where she first became Wildcat, she tried to work up the nerve to test the suit's full capabilities by jumping off a roof, only for Courtney to stop her just in time. This time she does make the jump, and not only does she land safely, she saves Courtney's life in the process.
- Catch a Falling Star: Yolanda does this for Courtney when the backlash from her struggle with Icicle tosses both off the rooftop, using her suit's impact negation to mostly cushion the fall.
- Cathedral Climax: After the JSA succeeds in destroying the synaptic amplifier, Icicle storms into Barbara's office to retaliate at Beth for her hacking, then grabs Barbara and takes her to the top of the clock tower. Played with in that he initially does this to show her "everything I did for Blue Valley" and convince her to join him, even offering to protect Courtney for her, but when she rightly declares he's insane and dares to use his wife's memory to criticize him, he then does attempt to throw her off the roof.
- Characters Dropping Like Flies: Dragon King, Brainwave, Icicle, and Chuck all die in this episode.
- Combat Pragmatist: Courtney eventually loses her patience with Cindy and hits her with a staff blast strong enough to knock her out even with her Healing Factor.
- Computer Equals Monitor: Throughout the season, the Dr. Mid-nite goggles have been consistently treated as some sort of interface with a more powerful server that resides elsewhere, including shutting down when they aren't able to communicate with it because of signal jamming. But when the goggles get destroyed by Icicle, Beth (who ought to be tech-savvy enough to know better!) acts as if Chuck himself has been destroyed. Even Chuck himself reacts as if he's dying.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Brainwave has his throat slashed by Yolanda and slowly bleeds to death as she watches.
- Death Is Cheap:
- Brainwave tries to invoke this to make Yolanda think Henry Jr. is still alive. She sees through it.
- Sylvester Pemberton, the original Starman (or someone claiming to be him!) is shown to be alive and looking for Pat at the end of the episode.
- Dies Wide Open: Brainwave
- The Dog Bites Back: Isaac bashes a bully over the head with his tuba on his mother's advice.
- Exposed to the Elements: Stargirl goes flying around in her leg-and-midriff-baring costume when it's snowing outside, including sitting atop a metal water tower that would have to be fairly cold to the touch.
- Expy: The Grundy vs. S.T.R.I.P.E. battle is portrayed essentially as a more low-key version of the Hulk vs. Hulkbuster battle.
- Final Boss: Jordan is the last enemy the JSA fights, after the ISA's plans have been destroyed and their members have been either killed or incapacitated.
- Get Out!: Rick screams at the now terrified Grundy to leave and never comeback.
- Heroic Willpower: Pat is able to resist Brainwave's control and survive despite the strain on his mind. Doing the same killed one of the teachers at Blue Valley High. He won't be able to keep it up forever without dying, however, which is why it's imperative Beth find a way of blocking Brainwave's signal.
- Hit Them in the Pocketbook: Since the Gambler proves to be a better hacker than Beth’s AI buddy Chuck, they distract the Gambler by hacking into his on- and offshore accounts and donate his money to several charities.
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
- Beth and Chuck activate the signal jammers in the tunnels, installed by the ISA to block enemy communication, to sever Brainwave's link to Justin and Pat.
- Dragon King's cruelty to his daughter the whole season even as she was trying to join the ISA ends up being his undoing when she kills him, also saving Sir Justin in the process.
- Hypocrite: Played for drama. Yolanda tries to discourage Rick from killing Grundy, then almost immediately afterwards kills Brainwave. She's subsequently shown to regret her decision, acknowledging that it was wrong for her to do so.
- Idiot Ball: Brainwave, who can read minds and create illusions, decides to get within melee distance of someone with razor claws.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Courtney does this with Pat, which is enough for him to fight Brainwave's control until Beth can sever the link.
- In the Back: Cindy shivs her father in the back just as he's about to kill Justin.
- Irony: Yolanda lectures Rick on how killing is wrong, but she ends up deliberately killing Brainwave when he tries to fool her, while Rick has Grundy dead to rights and spares him because Grundy is just an animal.
- Karmic Death: Icicle dies the same way he killed Joey Zarick, via car crash.
- Kick the Dog: Although Project New America is ostensibly for a utopian goal and the ISA views the loss of 25 million lives as an unfortunate but unavoidable side effect, The Gambler seems absolutely giddy at the prospect of people dying, and mocks the JSA about this.
- Killed Off for Real:
- Dragon King, who is murdered by his own daughter.
- Brainwave, courtesy of Yolanda.
- Jordan, thanks to Mike of all people.
- Literally Shattered Lives: After a fall from the clock tower leaves his ice armor in a fragile state, Icicle finally meets his end when Mike rams him with a truck, shattering him like glass.
- Master of Illusion: Brainwave is seemingly able to do this with his Psychic Powers, manipulating Yolanda's mind to make her think she's speaking with Henry Jr.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: As noted above, after a season's worth of abuse from her father, Cindy ends up literally stabbing Ito In the Back (after Justin inadvertently frees her from her cell). Played with in that a) she's still in it for herself, not switching sides and b) she still hates Courtney and wants to bring her down.
- Money Fetish: Beth and Chuck distract the Gambler by hacking into his on- and offshore accounts and donating the proceeds to charity. It's even outright stated that there's nothing the Gambler loves more than his money.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The ISA's defeat in the last big battle is at least partially self-inflicted. Icicle may have had reason to kill the Wizard, but doing so took him off the table. The same is true of Tigress killing the Fiddler. If Brainwave had skipped the theatrics with Yolanda and went straight for the kill, he could have probably turned the tide himself. Dragon King's abuse of Cindy directly led to her killing him when she saw a chance. Sportsmaster would have killed Pat if he didn't try to play with him. The Gambler was distracted by the loss of his bank account, but he made up for that by immediately releasing Solomon Grundy when the fight began. All of these mistakes together weakened the ISA to the point where the inexperienced JSA could fight them on even terms.
- Oh, Crap!: This is the Gambler's reaction to Chuck suggesting to Beth that they target his bank accounts.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Brainwave almost flawlessly impersonates Henry Jr., but outs himself as a fraud when he refers to the JSA as "your [Yolanda's] friends" instead of "our friends".
- Post-Climax Confrontation: Even after most of the ISA has been dealt with and the synaptic amplifier has been destroyed, the heroes have to face Jordan one last time.
- The Reveal:
- It's implied that the Shade abandoned/betrayed the Injustice Society because he didn't have faith in Project: New America.The Shade: Oh Jordan, I told you it was folly...
- Starman, the show's most vital Posthumous Character, is revealed to be very much alive at the end of the episode.
- It's implied that the Shade abandoned/betrayed the Injustice Society because he didn't have faith in Project: New America.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the plan has gone to hell, the Gambler wipes the entire system and flees the scene.
- Sequel Hook: Three, which has to be a record:
- The Shade, who has been alluded to for most of the season, finally appears during the aftermath, watching the news broadcast disguising the ISA's foiled plot as an earthquake in the ISA's now abandoned meeting chamber.
- Cindy is seen rifling through the Wizard's storage unit and finds a gem containing Eclipso.
- At the very end, a very much alive Sylvester Pemberton is revealed to be searching for Pat.
- Slashed Throat: Yolanda does this to Brainwave when she realizes the truth of his illusion.
- The Stinger: After a solemn dedication to Courtney Johns, we cut to an apartment complex in North Hollywood, where a man asks the tenant for Pat Dugan. This man says he is none other than Sylvester Pemberton, who's alive and in good health.
- Time Skip: The final scene skips ahead six weeks to Christmas.
- Undignified Death: Jordan Mahkent, aka Icicle, the Big Bad of the season and the man who masterminded the deaths of the original JSA, is ultimately killed by a twelve year old ramming a pickup truck into him while he's in his ice form, shattering him to pieces.
- Unexplained Recovery: Sylvester Pemberton is alive, and if this is legit, it's left unclear for now as to how he came back (or if he even died at all).
- Villain Ball: Justified. Brainwave can overpower pretty much the entire JSA in straight combat, but he decides to impersonate Henry Jr. in order to get Yolanda to reveal their current location, which seems rather unnecessary since everyone is trying to shut the synaptic amplifier off and would be nearby. However, Brainwave is a notorious Sadist, so more than likely he was just trying to screw with her for kicks. Yolanda figures out the ruse and slashes his throat before he can react.
- Villainous Breakdown:
- Jordan becomes increasingly unhinged throughout the episode as the ISA's plans crumble and a number of them are killed or incapacitated, to the point where by the episode's climax he's a raving lunatic trying to cling to what is now an impossible goal.Jordan: Over half a million people die from cancer every year, Barbara. Every year. Now what if I told you we take half a million lives right now, but I could cure cancer. Forever. What would you do?
Barbara: ... No one was going to die because of the way people think—
Jordan: Yeah, but they do! My wife died because of the way people think, because of greed, and politics, but I can change that! And it's not too late. It's not. I can still save America, Barbara. It doesn't have to be today, but I can do it, and, and... And you can help. And Courtney could. And I can protect her from the others, I can. I can keep her safe, and we could go somewhere. We could go somewhere else and we can start again. We could start anew.
Barbara: You're out of your damn mind. Your wife... would be horrified to see the kind of person you've become.
Jordan: You didn't know my wife! - Once the synaptic amplifier is destroyed and the communication links go offline, The Gambler says nothing but has a look of utter despair and disbelief on his face.
- Jordan becomes increasingly unhinged throughout the episode as the ISA's plans crumble and a number of them are killed or incapacitated, to the point where by the episode's climax he's a raving lunatic trying to cling to what is now an impossible goal.
- Villainous Rescue: Cindy kills Dragon King just when he's about to kill Sir Justin.
- We Can Rule Together: Jordan tries to convince Barbara to side with him, even offering to spare Courtney. Barbara refuses.
- Wham Line:
- Before the Time Skip, Cindy scavenges through the ISA's storage room and comes across a mysterious diamond. Holding the object up to the light, she quietly utters, "I see you in there... Eclipso." before a demonic Evil Laugh closes out the scene.
- The man looking for Pat Dugan says he's an old friend. "Name's Sylvester Pemberton."
- Wham Shot:
- When a news station falsely reports the brainwashing incident as being part of an "earthquake", the camera pans out to show Richard Swift, AKA the Shade, watching from within the ISA headquarters.
- The season ends with the revelation that Sylvester is alive and well, and that he's actively searching for his old friend Pat.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We don't find out what happened with Sportsmaster and Tigress after they were knocked out. We also don't find out what happened with Isaac Bowen nor Cameron Mahkent now that they're both orphans, or what Jordan's parents will do. Bobbie Burman's whereabouts are unknown (and knowing Dragon King, things are likely grim for her), Doctor Mid-Nite's owl, Hootie, is also nowhere to be seen, and the Thunderbolt pen continues to go unused in Courtney's room. And of course there is still no clear confirmation on the fate of Denise Zarick. Presumably, some or all of these threads will be addressed in Season 2.
- What You Are in the Dark: Rick has the chance to kill Solomon Grundy, but lets him leave because he sees that Grundy, in his beaten state, is just a scared animal.
- Wild Card: Cindy, upon her release, kills her father and then attacks Courtney, making it unclear which side she's on. It's entirely possible that being locked up for so long, combined with Brainwave's "The Reason You Suck" Speech in the previous episode, scrambled with her brain enough to decide to go after everyone who pissed her off instead.
- Wrecked Weapon: Icicle shatters Dr. Mid-Nite's goggles, silencing Chuck along with them. The others promise to fix the goggles and bring Chuck back.
