Review: Young Justice Phantoms “Nautical Twilight”/”Ebb Tide”/”Emergency Dive”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Nautical Twilight

Kaldur’ahm chews algae while Violet Harper cuts vegetables.

Ebb Tide

While Clark Kent gets all the news that’s fit to print, Kaldur’ahm hears old family stories from his parents.

Emergency Dive

Kaldur’ahm, Wyynde, and La’gann go for a swim while King Orin goes fishing.

Our Take:

Young Justice has returned with new episodes that’ll fill our DC superhero needs until the brand’s next theatrical outing. The show’s fourth season got off to an impressive start last year with its series of intriguing story arcs and mature themes. That alone was enough for me to get back into the critically-praised superhero series from DC. So today, we see the series return with not one, not two, but three episodes to get us hooked for the future of the second half of “Phantoms”.

The first episode, “Nautical Twilight”, introduces a new story arc focusing on a specific hero. This time, it’s Kaldur’ahm, formerly known as Aqualad before becoming the second Aquaman in season three. Here, we see Kaldur’ahm attending a conference meeting at Poseidonis, where they discuss finding a peaceful solution for the undersea world. The meeting was then swiftly interrupted by the arrival of Orm, aka Ocean Master.

The episode also features two brief subplots involving Superboy and Halo, providing an intriguing insight into the characters. The first subplot has Superboy waking up in a mysterious dimension and finding a mysterious woman. The other features Violet Harper on a personal journey to explore her Islamic heritage and sexuality. Overall, it’s a decent start to the underwater adventures of Kaldur’ahm.

The remaining episodes are where things start to heat up, especially “Ebb Tide”. That episode expands more on the Legion of Super-Heroes, a team that arrives from the future to prevent Superboy’s death. It is also revealed that one of their own, Phantom Girl, has also died in the explosion and wound up in the dimension with Superboy. The Legion has been absent since Miss Martian’s story arc in part one, so it was nice to see the episode deliver more context on the futuristic supergroup.

Its third episode, “Emergency Dive”, is probably the most dramatic of the bunch, notably due to Megan attempting to help Garfield overcome his depression. Yes, he’s still in that phase, and yes, he’s still a jerk for refusing help from anyone. It’s understandable that Garfield has been through depression before and wants to get through it himself. However, at this point, this arc is in danger of prolonging the inevitable, with Garfield being more of an asshole than ever. It was reasonably engaging and highly relatable at first, but right now, I just want Garfield to admit that he needs help.

Overall, the first three episodes offer a riveting start to Kaldur’ahm’s story arc and the second half of “Phantoms”. It continues to provide more action and drama in its scenarios and themes while maintaining the heroic elements of the first half. With more secrets being revealed and the drama on Earth rising, it’s only a matter of time before everything comes full circle in the remaining episodes.