Zatanna and her protégées encounter new allies — and an ancient foe. M'gann and her family will return to Earth by next week. Gar is having trouble coping with the loss of Conner after losing so many other family members in his life, and might be in danger himself.
Tropes:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Vandal had Klarion sink the city of Atlantis as part of his plans. Klarion and the Lords of Chaos, amused by the devastation, went the extra mile and sunk the entire Atlantean continent for good measure.
- Better the Devil You Know: The Phantom Stranger and Vandal Savage argue to Zatanna and Nabu respectively that Klarion, as problematic as he is, is a far better alternative than an exponentially more powerful Chaos Lord roaming Earth unchecked.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Klarion, of all people, borrows M'gann's old "Hello, Megan!" catchphrase, crying out "Hello, Maggot!" in a similar tone.
- Bus Full of Innocents: The same bus returns again, nearly running into Baby. In space. Roughly a week away from Earth.
- Call-Back: A few episodes ago, Cassandra Savage said that people like Vandal Savage and Lady Shiva are capable of rationalizing any deaths they cause, even if it means killing their kin. Here, Vandal is willing to sink Atlantis and drown thousands of his descendants, including his own grandson and the only other immortal he knows to exist, in a plot to create water-breathing metahumans from the few that are able to adapt. When the entire continent gets sunk, he mourns for a moment before deciding it was Worth It.
- Continuity Nod: Klarion brings up creating a world without adults, and creating a "Project Rutabaga flesh monster".
- Crown of Power: Vandal's grandson, Arion, was granted a circlet by the Lords of Order that granted him the magic he used to both expand Atlantis and sire the Homo Magi.
- Death by Looking Up:
- Arion is crushed to death by the head of his grandfather's statue while trying to prevent the sinking of Atlantis.
- Child rips a huge chunk of earth and positions it over Klarion. The chaos boy and his familiar look up in horror before it falls on them like a giant mouth.
- Don't Touch It, You Idiot!: While in Jason Blood's study, he chastises Mary for incautiously reaching out to touch a powerful and dangerous magical artifact three times.
- Emergency Transformation: Invoked by Vandal, who believed that by sinking Atlantis into the sea, some of the latent metahumans in the Homo Magi population would adapt by developing gills. He turned out to be right, but millions died because Klarion sunk the entire continent for fun.
- Enemy Mine: The Phantom Stranger asks Zatanna and her students to assist Klarion against the Child. Zatanna is justifiably disinterested since he tried to kill them all but, after seeing the destructive battle first hand, she decides they indeed need all the help they can get. Likewise, Vanadal asks for Nabu's assistance to deal with the Child.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even Vandal, who originally proposed sinking the capital city of Atlantis, never wanted to sink the whole continent, and was quite horrified when Klarion did so. Quickly subverted when Vandal decides it was Worth It.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: When Arion wouldn't sink Atlantis, Vandal waited for Klarion to return then had him do it. Klarion did as asked, but went overboard and sunk the entire continent. In the present, Vandal compares Klarion to a weapon he's gotten better at aiming over the centuries.
- Fatal Family Photo: At home, Gar is in bed with the box of sleeping pills next to him. He scrolls his phone to a happy photo of himself, M'gann and Conner as his eyes close.
- Gonna Need More X: Zatanna declares that they're going to need more help to stop the Child after the first attempt shows just how vast her power is compared to Klarion.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Klarion does this to the Child. Much like himself, she just melts and reforms after playing along to make fun of him.
- Henshin Hero: Etrigan recognizes Mary has a hidden magical double identity like himself and Jason Blood.
- Homeworld Evacuation: Vandal is so concerned about the Child prevailing over Klarion that he's ready to ditch Earth entirely, fearful of what she'd do without anyone to stop her.
- Human Subspecies: Vandal's metahuman descendants, deemed Homo Meta, are discussed, along with the Homo Magi that descended from his grandson Arion. A third subspecies, Homo Mermanus, born from the descendants of both who survived the sinking of Atlantis by developing water breathing, are also exposited.
- Hypocrite:
- In the previous episode, Klarion complained about people attacking his familiar at every opportunity. Naturally, he quickly hits upon the same strategy himself in dealing with his counterpart, not that it works.
- Despite being annoyed with the Phantom Stranger for recapping what he already knew last episode, Vandal decides to do the same with his son, Nabu, in this episode.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Em'ree is worried about M'gann shutting off telepathic contact, and deliberately irritates M'gann to provoke a response. This allows M'gann to finally open up since Conner's death.
- It's All About Me: Vandal Savage wanted to sink Atlantis because he felt that he couldn't rule Earth if the vast majority of it was covered in water, so he needed water-breathing metas to conquer it. The fact that this would kill the majority of Atlantis's residents was an acceptable sacrifice to that end, and even when Klarion went overboard and sunk the entire continent, Vandal decided that the devastation was worth it when his plan succeeded.
- Lamarck Was Right: The magic imbued into Arion by the crown the Lords of Order granted him was passed onto his descendants, creating a race of natural born magic users.
- Made of Indestructium: Flaw resists a direct magical attack from Klarion and all of Etrigan's attempts to harm him.
- Noodle Incident: Among the list of his accomplishments, Klarion mentions "the fiasco of Earth-17". Unlike the other incidents, it was never shown what that was in the show. His familiar corrects that it was a success, though Child believes that "fiasco" is definitely a better term for that and Klraion's entire tenure on Earth.
- Overly Long Gag: The bus gag reaches absurd heights in a quite literal sense when it somehow winds up in deep space to nearly sideswipe Baby.
- Pet the Dog: Ra's may not be a member of the Light anymore, but Vandal still extends an offer to escape Earth's destruction to him, though he doubts Ra's will accept.
- Shout-Out: The three artifacts Mary tries to touch in Jason Blood's lair are references to Gargoyles, a show Greg Weisman created. The artifacts are the Phoenix Gate, the Grimorum Arcanorum, and the Eye of Odin, collectively known as the Three Keys to Power. Justified when you realize how well Etrigan would have fit in that show and that Weisman uses "roughly" the same magic system in both.
- The Stinger: Cassandra and Vandal Savage are observing Earth from Warworld. Vandal orders Project Lifeboat to be initiated, evacuating all of his assets and fellow Light members from Earth just in case the Child wins.
- Stripped to the Bone: Etrigan grabs the Child and hits her with a point-blank flame blast, leaving her as a skeleton. He gloats for a bit, but then she emerges from the eye socket of her own skull and blasts him away.
- Villainous Friendship: When Vandal is evacuating the members of the Light and their assets from Earth, he makes sure to extend the offer to Ra's and his family as well, despite him no longer being a member of the Light. He doubts that Ra's will accept the offer, but he decides to do so anyway.
- Warrior Therapist: Em'ree tries to pick a fight with M'gann to try to break her out of her Heroic BSoD. M'gann sees right through it and calls Em'ree out, but still lets it work.
- The Worf Effect:
- The Child has the collective strength of the Lords of Chaos backing her, making Klarion insignificant before her.
- Though it's hard to say how Etrigan would measure up against Klarion, he is equally as powerless against the supercharged Child.
- Worth It: Though Vandal only intended to sink the Atlantis capital, not the entire Atlantis continent, the fact that it achieved his aims convinced him it was worth the cost.
- You Have Failed Me: The Child has been sent to recall Klarion for serving the cause of Order by working with Vandal, who intends to unite Earth under singular rule.
