Recap / Young Justice S4 E18: Beyond the Grip of the Gods

Rocket, Forager and Jay Garrick go on a diplomatic mission to New Genesis.

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Tropes:

• Agent Provocateur: Ma'alefa'ak on Apokolips disguises himself as a Hunger Dog to lure any other Hunger Dogs who are interested in a potential rebellion to be arrested and sent to be re-educated.
• Character Tics: Amistad likes to keep four toy cars upside down so he can stim by rolling their wheels one by one. He eats a black and white cookie by taking precise successive bites from each side until it's small enough to eat whole. Instead of initiating conventional contact for affection, he likes to acknowledge his parents with a light tap of his palm on the back of their right hands.
• Claustrophobia: Orion is severely claustrophobic and can go into an Unstoppable Rage if confined for too long.
• Creature of Habit: Raquel's young son Amistad is autistic and thus does not like deviating from his routines for any reason. When Raquel turns one of his toy cars right side up he shouts that it's wrong and turns it back to upside down, and twice has meltdowns when a specific pattern of behavior isn't followed (wearing a wool cap and using the same stop on the subway).
• Ditto Aliens: This episode involves the appearance of another hive of Bugs on New Genesis and the ones that are foragers are identical to the Outsider Forager. Forager is capable of perceiving the physical distinction to discern that a new Bug is female, something obvious to no one but him. (It seems the female Foragers are blue and the males are red.) Jay Garrick is already confused by the lack of gender differences, and the fact that there are now two Foragers acknowledging each other's title don't help matters either.
• Fate Worse than Death: The Lowlie bartender on Armagedda states that discussing rebellion against Darkseid will "get us all killed, or worse, re-educated".
• It's a Wonderful Plot: Conner's hallucinations have evolved to the point where he's living out a dream of what would have happened had the Team not rescued him. Under the control of the Light, he kills Superman and Batman, destroys the Watchtower, and becomes a terrifying yet beloved hero, craving Luthor's approval as his father. The only detail that he manages to hold onto (literally) is Phantom Girl still in his arms, whom he sees as Miss Martian, and his refusal to let her go.
• Madness Mantra: Conner repeats his speech from the pilot, where he affirms himself as "the Superboy" created to replace or destroy Superman. Even after Zod breaks the illusion, he can only identify himself as "the Superboy".
• Mirror Character: There is some subtle parallels between Raquel and her son with Orion and his mother. Her son prefers his routine, can be tactless in social situations and throws tantrums when he doesn't have his comfort items. Orion rigidly follows New God protocol, has to follow the lead of the other New Gods like his mother to smooth over any conflict this causes, and needs his Mother Box to keep his Unstoppable Rage in check. It also helps that Highmother is voiced by the same actress as Raquel.
• One Last Job: Ma'alefa'ak tries to get Darkseid to make good on their deal, but Darkseid insists on one last mission under Lor-Zod's command before making good.
• Parents as People: The episode opens with a look into Raquel's civilian life, particularly on the difficulties of providing for an autistic son. There is a scene where they're riding the subway where she both has to try and reprimand him for insulting another passenger and defend him from said passenger disparaging him. She also has an argument with his father over the need to enroll him in an IEP (Individualized Educational Program), since teachers have a hard time dealing with his outbursts when they have an entire class to watch over. She worries doing so will ostracize him from his peers, but he counters that they can't pretend he isn't having problems.
• Planet of Steves: Another Bug called Forager makes an appearance, and the Outsider Forager casually refers to her in conversation without making an obvious distinction. This is lampshaded by Jay as something that definitely won't get confusing. As Miss Martian said, Bugs have a complicated sense of self and the concept of a name is synonymous with caste.
• Race Lift: Lor-Zod is depicted as black with dreads. This foreshadows the reveal that Dru-Zod is black in this adaptation as well, as he was in Krypton.
• The Reveal:
  • Jay Garrick is the second Justice League Flash mentioned by Orin in the previous episode, having come out of retirement following Joan's death.
  • The mystery person with the second Time-Sphere from Mars, the one that tried to kill Superboy, is revealed to be Lor-Zod, and is in cahoots with Darkseid.
  • Superboy is indeed stuck in the Phantom Zone, the first time the series has acknowledged it as such.
• Security Blanket: Raquel's son Amistad is autistic and has a number of comfort items he needs to remain calm. He throws a tantrum when Raquel tries to make him leave on their visit to his dad without his wool hat.
• Shattering the Illusion: Zod starts to bring Conner out of his fugue state by pointing out that since Conner's never met him before, he can't have hallucinated Zod like he hallucinated the rest.
• Thoughtcrime: Even considering rebelling against Darkseid is grounds for re-education on Apokolips, a fact Ma'alefa'ak exploits to get people arrested as part of his work for Darkseid.
• Time Skip: This episode takes place almost two months after the last one left off.
• Wham Line:
  • When Ma'alefa'ak asks for the name of the young man he's been instructed to follow, and was working behind the scenes on Mars, he introduces himself:
    I am Lor. Lor-Zod.
  • Two in quick succession when Conner finally meets someone else in the mysterious void he and Phantom Girl are trapped in:
    My name's Dru, by the way. Dru-Zod. General Dru-Zod.
    (Cue Wham Shot)
• Wham Shot: The location in the bottom right corner finally reading 'The Phantom Zone' after General Zod introduces himself to Superboy and the camera zooms out to show his house insignia.

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