Review: Young Justice Phantoms “Leviathan Wakes”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Kaldur’ahm searches… Atlantis finds.

Our Take:

The problems continue to surface underneath the sea, with Kaldur’ahm and his allies searching for the Crown of Prophesy. Meanwhile, King Orin and Miss Martian discover the shocking truth about Arian, who’s prepared to become the high king. The following may surprise you.

The second half of Phantoms got off to a great start, with the first three episodes centering on Kaldur’ahm and Orin. The arc concludes with an episode that reveals a huge surprise surrounding Orm. Here, we see that the Ocean Master in prison isn’t precisely Ocean Master. Instead, he is a clone created by Vandal Savage, with the real Orm pretending to be Arian to seize control of Atlantis and the crown. Luckily for our sea-worthy heroes, the crown from the Lords of Chaos deems Orm unworthy and disintegrates him. As a result, Orin declares Mera as the one to wear the crown, leaving him to support Kaldur and rejoin the Justice League. While far from the best twist the season offers, it’s still an intriguing surprise that digs further into Savage’s mysterious intentions.

The segments involving Kaldur, La’gann, and the others exploring the caves are also suitable for providing some action amid its undersea political drama. The most interesting part of those scenes was a brief conversation between La’gann and Wyynde about Superboy. La’gann briefly explains that he couldn’t make amends with Superboy after his tragic “death”, emphasizing the complex relationship between the two throughout the series. Speaking of which, the episode ends with Superboy and the unconscious Phantom Girl still stuck in the ghost dimension. While reminiscing the horrible memories of his past actions, Superboy encounters another familiar face in the form of Lex Luthor. Is he the real deal or another hallucination?

Overall, “Leviathan Wakes” may not conclude Kaldur’s arc on a fantastic note, but it does offer a bright future for the characters involved. More importantly, it’s another decent episode that answers many questions while teasing some new ones for future arcs. With another solo arc in the books, another member will soon get his own story told amidst the season’s central plot. Maybe we might see Nightwing get a chance to shine later down the road?