Episode 19: Summit
Takes place on June 19
The Reach meet with the Light (minus Luthor, Queen Bee, and Klarion) to discuss their grievances with each other. Kaldur, Tigress/Artemis, Deathstroke, Ra's assistant Ubu, and Monseiur Mallah are the Light's body guards. During a brief scuffle between the two groups Ra's al Ghul notices Artemis's charm. When the fighting is done he rips it off, revealing her identity. With her and Kaldur's cover blown, Deathstroke shoots them both; however, Kaldur had been holding a deadman's switch, activating a pre-recorded hologram revealing that the Reach and Light were both playing each other. They had made an agreement that the Light would help the Reach conquer Earth in exchange for positions of power, but the Reach saw them only as pawns. Meanwhile the Light held back the Reach (among other things neutralizing their mind control drink and letting Blue and Green Beetle be cleansed) as part of their plan for Earth to gain the galactic spotlight. Also, the meeting between the Light and Reach has been recorded and will be used as evidence in the intergalactic trial of the Justice League.
Then, surprise! Aqualad and Artemis aren't really dead, because Deathstroke was really M'gann. Several Team members come out of hiding to attack. Savage reveals Klarion and Ra's calls upon his League of Assassins, but some of the assassins are Team members in disguise. Outgambitted!
A battle ensues, resulting the captures of Black Manta and the Brain, along with the prior capture of Deathstroke. Savage and Klarion teleport away. Ra's is killed by Black Beetle, and Ubu takes his body to go resurrect him. Black Beetle takes the Reach Scientist but, citing his numerous failures, relieves the Ambassador of his post and leaves him for dead.
The Team celebrates, Aqualad is reinstalled as Team leader, and the Reach's crimes are revealed to the world. Savage and Klarion knock out the Leaguers guarding the WarWorld, dump them on the Watchtower, and flee with the planetoid. Because the Earth's invitation to the Reach has been revoked, Black Beetle resolves to simply destroy the planet to eliminate evidence of their tampering.
Tropes:
- Badass Boast: Vandal gives a scary one when his buttons are pressed:
- Vandal: Kill them all. Superboy may pose a problem, but we'll deal with him when the rest of the children lie bleeding on the floor.
- Countered immediately by Kaldur:Kaldur: No wonder our successes mount. You consistently underestimate us.
- The Dragon: The members of the Light all notably bring theirs; Ras brings Ubu, The Brain brings Mallah, Manta brings Kaldur and Tigress, and Savage brings Klarion. Similarly, the Reach bring Black Beetle.
- Gambit Pile Up
- Oh, Crap!: Savage invokes this when he summons Klarion to fight for him.
- Retirony: Wally mentions that after this operation he and Artemis are out of the game for good.
- Tranquil Fury: Savage is experiencing this from the moment The Reveal happens.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Lagoon Boy has been captured by the Light, gotten his arm broken, and been broken up with by Miss Martian. But in this episode, he finally gets to do some fighting and pulls an unspeakably badass One-Hit Kill on Klarion The Witch Boy's monster.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Right: Vandal and Klarion once the battle heats up.
- Villain Respect: After two seasons and five years of dismissing the Team, Savage finally gives this
- Savage: It is true. The Light has always underestimated these heroes. But no more.
- He also gives a major one to Kaldur:Savage: He has done more in death to disrupt my plans than anyone else in fifty thousand years!
- Villainous Breakdown: After the Reach and the Light's true intentions are exposed to one another, the Reach Ambassador finally descends to rage, insulting Earthlings as "a pestilence and a plague".Reach Ambassador: You Earthlings are a pestilence and a plague! You dare sabotage us?! Dare betray us?! Have you forgotten who controls the Warworld? The Light is fortunate we do not carve up your planet as we speak!
- Villainous Valor: Manta is staunchly on the Light's side, but as always, he expresses affection for Kaldur, stands up to Black Beetle throwing his weight around, and when Kaldur reveals his true colors, simply determines to teach him the error of his ways.
- Would Hurt a Child: Vandal demonstrates that he's willing to do this.
- Xanatos Gambit: Many in play.
- The whole summit was one. Kaldur was recording the whole thing, so if nothing went wrong, they've could've used the footage to destroy or expose the Reach/Light alliance afterwards.
- Compensating for the worst-case scenario, if he and Artemis were exposed, they had Miss Martian on hand to fake-kill them and activate Kaldur's whistleblowing presentation, destroying the alliance then and there.
- And from there, they had the team on hand to contain the Light/Reach before they could escape.
- And finally, they planted their own agents in the security teams, so if the Light called them in they could disrupt them immediately.
- It's no exaggeration to say that this gambit is equal to or greater than the gambit outlined in the page image. Not surprising when this show was made by the trope namer.
