Episode 63: Rapprochement
Takes place August 30-September 10
This is a primarily Renegade episode.
Short version
The Renegade returns to Earth and rebuilds the Light with a more constructive and sane roster: Circe, Queen Clea, Teth Adom, Cranius, and The Shade, and Lex Luthor.
Longer version
The Renegade comes back to Earth and visits Lex Luthor, hoping for news of a new and better Light. However, to his dismay, Luthor has been unable to find any suitable and willing candidates, so the Renegade goes on his own recruitment drive.
He first visits Circe, whom he persuades to set aside her feud with Wonder Woman by offering his Divine Awakening process as a replacement for the power she currently holds at Hecate's whim. She then helps him to free the Shade from Simon Culp's possession, and helps Teth Adom to overcome and imprison Theodore Adam's spirit.
Queen Clea of Venturia is willing to learn more in exchange for the Renegade's help in maintaining Venturia's semi-independence, and Cranius considers himself indebted to the Renegade after the Team's help at Aberrance.
The Renegade hoped to also include Alan Scott, even bringing back a personal lantern from Apokolips for him, but learns that without any ring charge, Alan died while he was off in space.
The Paragon SI goes on a recruitment drive, accessing the Honden of Avarice to search the universe for individuals with stable desires.
The title likely refers to Grayven meeting with Lex again, to re-establish the Light.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: Circe takes Grayven to the internal fight between Theodore Adam's spirit and Teth Adom's. Their stalemate has lasted for months, until Grayven jumps in, breaks Theodore's arm, and runs him through. Circe then locks his spirit away and Teth Adom takes sole control of their shared body.
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Catharsis Factor: Grayven is feeling much better after spending time in a place where he can just kill evildoers with a giant sword. - Corrupt Church: Paul comes across a Lantern candidate, whose eyes have been cut out with a hooked knife because she's a woman. His internal monologue for the chapter has a lot of red text.
- Demonic Possession: Technically not demonic, but a different kind of supernatural being. Simon Culp has been inhabiting Richard Swift's body for decades, until Circe kicks him out. Oh, and she ensures that his shadow control powers remain with Mr Swift.
- De-power: Grayven persuades Circe to end her bargain with Hecate and give up most of her power, offering instead his Divine Awakening process so she can gain power with less strings attached. This leaves her initially much weaker, but less stressed and no longer motivated to kill Wonder Woman.
- Desperately Craves Affection: Paul gives Ratchet permission to touch him, and is completely enveloped in tentacles before he can finish the sentence.
- The Dreaded: Part of the reason Lex failed to find any new Light members was because all his contacts were terrified of attracting Gravyen's attention.
- Empty Shell: People on Apokolips regularly give up all will and kill themselves, stating "I die for Darkseid." Note that they're not depressed in the usual sense, nor has Darkseid ordered them to do it, they've just had so much of their identities erased by the Anti-Life Equation that they see no reason not to kill themselves.
- Faux Affably Evil: Darkseid is quite polite and accommodating to Grayven, while discussing the Anti-Life fragment that he implanted in Grayven's soul.
- Ignore the Fanservice: Grayven doesn't notice that Knockout (who matches her name in appearance as well as in combat) is naked in his bed until she propositions him. Given that she had just attacked him to test his capacity for violence, his response is to literally kick her down the corridor.Grayven: Please don't do this again.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Ratchet comes from a culture that does not permit its members to touch each other. At all. He feels differently.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Grayven's neighbours don't really know how to respond to his mother Mortalla. She looks like a goddess, but has spent centuries as Darkseid's concubine, being downtrodden and otherwise emotionally and spiritually abused.Clara: She's-? You're his mom?
Mortalla: Yes?
Clara: Hope I look that good when I'm your age!
Mortalla: I.. am.. over five hundred years old. I mean no offence, but it is unlikely.
<beat>
Clara: You wouldn't have a big folder of Grayven's baby photos, would you? 'Cause I've been wondering what he looked like back then.
Mortalla: I-. No. I have no photographs, or other images. I was not… Permitted…
Clara: Er...? - Plausible Deniability: Miss Amane goes through the US government's new certification process for superheroes, but that's kept quiet and anonymous, because the government wouldn't really want to be seen as endorsing her killing sprees.
- Power Born of Madness: Vril Dox would be willing to have Orange Lanterns overload and go crazy so long as they're aimed at the Reach. Paul doesn't want any insane Lanterns at all.
- Power is Sexy: Knockout is attracted to Grayven's power. He, on the other hand, is quite unimpressed to have her turn up naked in his room, and even more unimpressed when she punches him for brushing her off.
- Sorting Algorithm Of Villain Threat: Paul is excited to find that Ratchet's world isn't absurdly well equipped for fighting Lanterns; he can just grab all the people he wants to rescue and fly out with them.
- Spit Take: Grayven, returning in triumph from Vega, bursts in on Lex Luthor, who chokes on his breakfast muffin.
- Tranquil Fury: Paul is very tempted to just annihilate the Temple of the Unseeing himself, but he sticks to his original plan, giving a ring to someone directly affected and letting her do it.Paul: When I am confronted by the evils of the universe, I will rejoice. F- for when I am done, there will be one less.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Inverted. The audience doesn't know that Grayven asked Darkseid for a green personal lantern, or that he intended to include Alan Scott in the new Light, until he's standing at Alan's grave with the lantern in hand and raging at his own failure.
- You Are Too Late: Grayven brings back a green personal lantern that Darkseid let him have, but finds out that Alan died while he was in Vega.
