Lor-Zod, Mantis, and Ma'alefa'ak make their move on Metron's vault. On New Genesis, Rocket continues to negotiate with the New Gods. Back on Earth, Beast Boy attends his annual therapy session with Black Canary.
Tropes:
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Beast Boy starts talking about how it's his fault that he's lost so many people, Dinah just keeps asking "What could you have done?" to help him realize that it's not his fault and he did all he could. His mother being murdered by the villainess Queen Bee back in the Time Skip between Seasons 1 and 2 hits him especially hard as he was too young to stop her, whether he had his powers or not.Dinah: Gar, you were 8 years old. The combined might of the Team and the Justice League still hasn't stopped Queen Bee. How is an 8-year-old child supposed to do that?
- Attack Backfire: Discussed. Lor-Zod rules out trying to use heat vision on the Sun Eater because all he'd do is feed it.
- Blatant Lies: When Gar goes into his therapy session, he claims he is ready to get help in order to rejoin the Outsiders. However, it becomes clear through his rushed answers and snapping at Black Canary that he is only there out of necessity, not for true help. Dinah sees right through Gar's facade and finally gets him to admit what is really troubling him.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The Phantom Zone is heavily influenced by consciousness and willpower is needed to move things and communicate. After decades of imprisonment, the followers of Zod have Super-Strength and a form of telepathy due to their experience with manipulating the Zone and their fanatical devotion to Zod.
- Conflict Killer: Orion angrily dismisses everyone discussing personal matters at the conference as irrelevant. Raquel, who already doesn't trust him, is about to rebut when Metron suddenly Boom Tubes in and demands everyone present come with him for the sake of the galaxy.
- Continuity Nod:
- Once again, Ma'alefa'ak impersonates Orion.
- Vykin and Orion request the Justice League turn over Cyborg and Halo as their abilities are the result of fusing with a Fatherbox and a Motherbox, respectively. Halo particularly, because Darkseid's designs on the Anti-Life Equation make them a target.
- Dinah lists in reverse the people whom Beast Boy has lost, starting with Conner, then Brion (he didn't die but was "lost"), Rita and the Doom Patrol, Wally, and finally his mother. On that last point she points out that Queen Bee's political ties have made it impossible for even the Justice League to bring her down.
- Creepy Monotone: Except for a brief moment when he remembers his family, Conner's voice is completely flat and emotionless, and he only speaks to answer questions.
- Cult of Personality: The inhabitants of the Phantom Zone have formed one around General Zod, kneeling before him and chanting their devotion to the House of Zod as they work. Zod and Ursa work together to recruit Conner, who has to kneel before him to be accepted into their ranks.
- Cutting the Knot: Lor-Zod and his cohorts travel two days in the past to Metron's vault in hopes of finding the Phantom Zone Projector. Mantis states that because of the vault's sheer size it could take days, or even weeks, to find what they're looking for. After a full day of searching, while dodging a Sun Eater, Lor-Zod decides on a quicker alternative: capture Metron and force him to bring them to the Projector.
- Darkhorse Victory: Mantis is dismissed by Lor as the weakest member of their party but it's him that not only saves them from the Sun Eater but also deduces how to get the Phantom Zone Projector.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Metron tricks Lor-Zod and uses a piece of Kryptonite to subdue him while the Sun-Eater attacks his team. While he rushes back to warn the others at the conference, Mantis moves Lor-Zod and Ma'alefa'ak a day earlier with the Time Sphere. Recalling Metron's description of what the symbols on the boxes mean, he searches every box sharing the same symbol for Krypton as the one that contains Kryptonite to find the Phantom Zone Projector.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Lor-Zod is incredulous to hear that Orion is Darkseid's son yet is allied against him with New Genesis. As a scion of Zod, it's understandable that he would have trouble believing a son could be aligned against his father.
- Exact Words: Metron says that he'll give Lor-Zod "what [he's] asked for". Rather than giving him the Phantom Zone Projector he requested, he brings out a piece of Kryptonite, i.e. what Lor-Zod has coming to him.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: Outsider Forager is debating whether to move in with Mountain Hive Forager after only two days, and even then he feels that he's "wasted time" by taking that long. Raquel's a bit shocked, but Vykin explains that Bugs court very quickly.
- Guilt Complex: Garfield blames himself for failing to save all those close to him that have died/been lost. Dinah has to point out how irrational this is, as he blames himself for not averting tragedies he had no means of ever stopping (his mother's death), or (as is the case with Conner) would have led to greater tragedies even if he had.
- Hard Truth Aesop: Dinah lays it down gently to Gar that, even as superheroes, it's almost impossible to save everyone (as much as they try to), and blaming yourself or expressing hindsight won't change things, or help with the guilt.
- Hidden Depths: Orion seems like a hard-case stickler for procedure, and Raquel doesn't trust him, least of all for being the son of Darkseid, but he softens and recants from insisting that Halo be released into New Genesis custody when Raquel asserts they're better protected by being with their friends and family.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Raquel is angered that Orion dismissed everyone discussing personal matters as irrelevant, because it was including things like falling in love and grieving Conner. However, they are at a conference to hash out ongoing issues between all three parties that impact the galaxy and it's suddenly been taken wildly off track by the intrusion of Bear, and punctuated by Kilowog soiling his suit right there at the table as announced by his ring during the automated cleaning.
- Jerkass Realization: Gar claims he got hit with this after M'gann's intervention with him, but is just trying to breeze through his mandatory therapy session with Dinah, telling her what he thinks she wants to hear. Dinah isn't buying it and steers the conversation towards deeper issues, and it becomes a more legitimate realization after Gar comes to terms with the loss of his allies and loved ones. Gar already acknowledged that he drove away his loved ones still alive and wanting to helped him, but now he finally understands his own methods of dealing with his guilt aren't working.Garfield: Dinah... I need help.
- Job Song: "For the House of Zod", a combination job/loyalty chant that his followers sing as they're adding an asteroid to his makeshift fortress.
- Kneel Before Zod: With the man himself present, would you expect any less? Dru-Zod's followers all kneel when he returns with Conner, and Conner does likewise after deciding to join his group.
- Leonine Contract: Zod offers Conner a place to stay among them if he joins the cult. While no threat is made, none is needed: Conner's only other option is to wander the Phantom Zone alone and lose what's left of his mind or be devoured. Conner kneels before Zod.
- My Greatest Failure: Two of these from Garfield and Tomar Re, as follows.
- Garfield regards his failure to protect his loved ones — Conner, Rita, his mother, and the teammates he's lost over the years — from dying, as well as feeling responsible for Brion going over the edge and becoming a monster.
- Tomar Re states his greatest regret to being unable to save Krypton and the House of El, as the planet was in his Sector and Jor-El and Zor-El were good friends of his.
- Mythology Gag:
- Lor-Zod finds and recognizes what's apparently the Emerald Eye of Ekron while searching Metron's vault.
- Metron has a baby Sun Eater that effectively acts as his guard dog, something Superman had in his Fortress of Solitude in All-Star Superman. The Sun Eater itself, however, retains its appearance from its debut in Legion of Super-Heroes as a red cloud.
- The Kaizer-Thrall's teleportation is done by firing zig-zagging beams. Darkseid's infamously zig-zagging Omega Beams also have the ability to teleport targets to a place of his choosing, rather than just disintegrating them. In fact, it's likely the Kaizer-Thrall in-universe is a deliberate recreation of this power.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Metron's gambit to escape Lor-Zod's team does allow him to warn the assembled heroes of the threat, but it also allows Mantis to secure their objective before Metron can return with backup.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Metron is genuinely concerned when he comes to fetch the heroes assembled for the conference, calling Lor-Zod's team a threat to the entire galaxy, as opposed to his regular, analytical detachment. It's likely that Metron has deduced Lor's intentions and that he is working with Darkseid.
- Out-Gambitted: Happens twice over towards the end. Metron is able to sucker Lor-Zod into being exposed to Kryptonite and when Ma'alefa'ak intervenes it turns out he was actually setting them up to get attacked by the Sun-Eater. Mantis then gets one over on him by managing to endure the Sun-Eater long enough to get to the Time Sphere so they can go back in time one day to claim the Projector with no issue.
- Pet Monstrosity: Metron has a baby Sun Eater acting as a kind of guard dog for his vault. It takes the form of a cloud of red particles that painfully drains energy from any intruders. It's near mindless, so Ma'alefa'ak can only barely fend it off with a mindblast.
- Photographic Memory: Mantis, who is able to use Loz-Zod's time bubble just from watching him operate it, allowing him to shift to one day before they encountered Metron and find the Phantom Zone Projector.
- Psychic Block Defense: Metron's mind is completely unreadable to Ma'alefa'ak, all the more impressive because he can maintain it under constant torture.
- Rage Breaking Point: Orion gets gradually more annoyed that the meeting is off track when Bear arrives, catching up with Raquel and Forager on their personal lives, and reaches his limit when Kilowog's ring announces that it just disposed of his waste.
- Really 700 Years Old: Bear reveals that he's a couple decades over 16,000 years old, though he does point out that it was being measured in Earth years indicating he's actually young by New God standards.
- Samaritan Syndrome: It's revealed that Garfield has felt responsible for all of his loved one's deaths, from his mother to Conner. When he finally talks to Black Canary, she helps him accept the truth: Sometimes bad things happen even when you do everything right; it's impossible to save everyone, and it is so much harder to accept that as a superhero.
- Saying Too Much:
- Ma'alefa'ak calling Lor-Zod "Kryptonian" gives Metron all the information he needs to turn the tables on his attackers, incapacitating Lor with Kryptonite before siccing the Sun Eater on his teammates.
- In turn, Metron explains his filing system to Lor's team (specifically, that the symbol for Krypton marks Kryptonian items), which allows Mantis to find the Phantom Zone Projector easily once he's rescued Lor and Ma'alefa'ak.
- Shout-Out: Metron tells the delegates, "Come with me, if you want the entire galaxy to survive," a variation on the Terminator Arc Words "Come with me if you want to live."
- Simultaneous Arcs: Lor-Zod, Mantis, and Ma'alefa'ak's plan spans over the events of the previous two episodes with the help of the Time-Sphere. They travel back to the events two episodes prior to place a tracking device on the Ruction Cell so they can lock on to the Mobius Dimension, then observe his fight with Razer last episode so they know precisely when to ambush him when he's punched back into the Mobius Dimension.
- Telepathy: Dru-Zod and his wife are able to communicate telepathically so he can tell her how to manipulate Conner without being overheard. As he explains to Conner later, everything they do is an expression of will, so verbal communication is just muscle memory they don't have to abide by in the Zone.
- Teleportation Sickness: The Kaizer-Thrall is revealed to be a teleportation device for entry into Metron's vault once coordinates are acquired, but the process is evidently very painful.
- Toilet Humor: Apparently, Green Lantern suits can recycle their user's waste products, as evidenced when Kilowog leans back for a minute during the summit and closes his eyes, but then becomes bashful when his ring (which he accidentally left unmuted) announces to the entire room of dignitaries that he just finished.
- Torture Always Works: Subverted. Lor-Zod hits Metron with an Agony Beam from the Kaizer-Thrall and threatens to just let him suffer unless he shows them where the Phantom Zone Projector is. It's then pointed out that, as a New God, Metron could quite literally just wait for them to die rather than talk. The only reason he relents is because Ma'alefa'ak accidentally reveals an avenue of attack for Metron to exploit.
- Villain Protagonist: In addition to Rocket and Gar, the episode focuses on the Terrible Trio of Lor-Zod, Mantis and Ma'alefa'ak in their quest for the Phantom Zone Projector.
- Weaponized Teleportation: The teleport process of the Kaizer-Thrall is very painful, so Lor-Zod uses it to improvise an Agony Beam to incapacitate the Mobius Chair and torture Metron into revealing the whereabouts of the Phantom Zone Projector.
- Wound That Will Not Heal: As disembodied beings of consciousness, the denizens of the Phantom Zone don't heal from wounds received prior to entering or those suffered from the beasts that dwell within. From this, it is reasoned that Phantom Girl will likely never wake up inside the Zone.
