Zatanna seeks the help of Nightwing to put the pieces together with regards to Conner's disappearance.
Tropes:
- Adapted Out: In the comics, Jor-El and Zor-El have a brother, Nim-El, and a nephew, Don-El, but neither is mentioned when the Phantom Zone prisoners try to figure out how Connor is related to their old enemies. Complicating things is that they are Kandorians in the comics and it is unknown if Kandor was shrunk and stolen by Brainiac in this timeline or, if it was, the rest of Krypton knew its residents survived being abducted.
- Balking Summoned Spirit: In "Rescue and Search" Zatanna summons Klarion to try to force him to release Connor from the Phantom Zone. This immediately backfires as he disregards their request and attempts to kill them for daring to summon him. Zatanna then casts another spell, magically demanding Klarion honor his debt to her for helping him earlier in the season—which he reluctantly complies with by leaving without killing them.Klarion: Ugh do I haaave to?
- Bat Deduction: Appropriately for a protégé of the trope namer Batman. Upon viewing Raquel's memories about New Genesis, Dick finally puts together that Bart's disappearance is connected to Conner's own. Raquel and Artemis claim that Dick is falling into a bunch of hunches. However, in addition to the earlier investigation with Zatanna, Dick's summation of the events ultimately lines up with a workable theory for the team to go with.
- Call-Back:
- Dick finds security footage of Clark being visited by Chameleon Boy and Saturn Girl at Bibbo's, so he and Zatanna slide up next to Clark and ask for help from "Superman" in the exact same manner. Clark complains that he has to find a new place to buy coffee.
- Regarding said security footage, Zatanna mentions that it exists because Bibbo installed security cameras at his establishment following the incident where he was abducted and replaced by a Krolotean, as seen in "Happy New Year!".
- Zatanna's memory spell is used to view the relevant bits from the end of her arc and that of Rocket's.
- Dick uses the alias "Dan Danger" at Haly's Circus again, as in "Performance".
- The Cameo: Jaime, Traci, Tye Longshadow, Asami, and Tye's mother and grandfather are in the crowd watching Daring Dan Danger perform in El Paso.
- Continuity Nod:
- As in "Misplaced", Klarion copies Zatanna's backwards style of spellcasting when fighting her.
- Artemis mentions that Zatanna and Raquel both dated Dick in the past, as was established in a tie-in comic.
- Kaldur has kept his beard from the end of "Leviathan Wakes", though he's obviously trimmed it since then to clean it up. He says that Wyynde likes his new look.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Klarion's lazy but effective Sdrawkcab Speech counter spell to Zatanna's vine attack is "Weed killer kill this killer weed!"
- Didn't See That Coming: Zatanna summons Klarion using a binding circle inside the Tower of Fate, reasoning that he won't risk being trapped in the tower again or provoking Dr. Fate. Not only does Klarion willingly enter the tower because he's that annoyed at being summoned, he also knows Dr. Fate is otherwise occupied.
- Double Date: Jaime and Traci are at Haly's Circus with Tye and Asami.
- Dramatic Irony: Zod finds out that Conner is of the House of El, but Conner tells him he was actually a clone created to replace or kill Superman. This is true, but without the greater context that Conner immediately defected to Superman's side and with the addition of his hallucinations convincing him that he did kill Superman, Zod takes him as an ally against the House of El and thanks him.
- Eating the Eye Candy: When Zatanna shows up to ask for Nightwing's help, she takes a moment to enjoy the sight of him shirtless.
- Enhance Button: A single blurry frame of Bart's foot is enhanced to show it's his costume, allowing Dick to figure out that he stole supplies from the Watchtower.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- When Zatanna invokes the Holy Balance to force Klarion to honor his debt, the other Lords of Chaos through New Teekl admonish Klarion.
- Dru-Zod is briefly appalled when it appears that Jor-El only saved his own child from Krypton's destruction and left everyone else to die. Conner clarifies that Jor-El did indeed try to save everyone, but no one believed him and they rejected his attempts.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Dru-Zod asks Conner if it was New Genesis, the Daxamites or the Green Lantern Corps who destroyed Krypton. The first and last of those, at least, would never do that. The latter is also ironic in light of Tomar-Re's guilt over not saving the planet.
- Exposition Beam: Zatanna uses a spell to share memories with other people, as well as extract them if needed for greater clarity.
- Fanservice: Nightwing's outfit as Daring Dan Danger leaves little to the imagination.
- Godzilla Threshold: Zatanna and company summon Klarion in an attempt to get him to save Conner, but it doesn't pan out because he sees through their gambit and only refrains from killing them all out of a debt to Zatanna for saving him, which he only decides to honor after Zatanna calls upon the Holy Balance to force the issue.
- Hostage Situation: Lor-Zod and Ma'alefa'ak continue to hold Bart, Saturn Girl and Chameleon Boy hostage to force Bio Ship to cooperate, after Kid Flash and Chameleon Boy decide to fight despite his threat against Saturn Girl and are quickly defeated.
- I Am the Noun: Dru-Zod tells Conner, "I am the House of Zod."
- Instant Runes: Zatanna's spell to summon Klarion causes a complex spell circle to manifest on the floor, which then raises into the air and opens into a portal that links directly to Klarion.
- Internal Reveal:
- Conner gets the Zods up to speed on Krypton's history since they were imprisoned, explaining how the planet was destroyed, his and Superman's relation to the Els, and that they've been trapped in the Zone much longer than they thought. Crucially, he reveals to them that Kryptonians gain extensive superpowers under a yellow sun such as Earth's.
- After some investigation, Zatanna and company realize that Conner is trapped in the Phantom Zone, since the environment Zatanna saw him in when she traced the path of the magic school bus matches the appearance of the brief look Rocket got at the Zone last episode.
- It Only Works Once: Zatanna reasons that Klarion won't risk being trapped in the Tower of Fate again, but not only does he enter of his own free will, he isn't affected by its Teleport Interdiction as he was previously.
- Literal-Minded: After learning of Krypton's destruction, Ursa decides she needs some air to think about it. Conner responds that there is no air in the Phantom Zone, for which she nearly punches him as she's already in a bad mood.
- Loophole Abuse: Even though Klarion is bound to fulfill his debt to Zatanna, he gets to choose what form that boon takes. He picks 'not killing her and her friends for disturbing him' and leaves, seemingly putting them right back where they started.
- Me's a Crowd: Like he did during his last fight against Zatanna, Klarion duplicates himself into five so he can fight the heroes all at once.
- Mirror Match: Klarion and his duplicates fight Zatanna, Dick, Raquel, Artemis and Kaldur with similar styles of combat to his opponents.
- Mythology Gag:
- Bart tries to use his Super-Speed to place a Power Limiter on Lor-Zod, whose eyes follow him before zapping the collars with heat vision. This is a reference to Justice League, where Superman did much the same thing when the Flash attempted to speed around him, though Flash was fast enough to avoid Superman's punches.
- Ursa-Zod mentions that Zor-El had a daughter (i.e. Supergirl). Possibly a Chekhov's Gun.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
- Even after being coerced by the Holy Balance to honor Zatanna's debt, Klarion thinks his mercy loophole will get him out of actually helping the Team's path to the Phantom Zone. His off-hand complaint about being anchored to the Metropolis School District bus earlier this season, however, proves to be enough for Zatanna to think of an alternative.
- Saturn Girl taunts Lor-Zod about how he managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory after killing Superboy, which should have resulted in a future where there'll be no Legion to oppose his parents when they are freed from the Phantom Zone in the 30th century. Not content with that, he tried to let them out early in the 21st century, but his attempt led to the Phantom Zone Projector being destroyed, ensuring his parents will never get out. Lor-Zod remains undeterred and decides to retrieve the Kaizer-Thrall from Oa.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Not so different in Dru-Zod's mind at least; he remarks on the irony of his jailer Jor-El (the former Trope Namer for Ignored Expert) trying to save Krypton from its impending destruction but not being heeded, since the same happened when he tried to "save" it.
- Once More, with Clarity: The Cold Open reveals further detail of Lor-Zod and Ma'alefa'ak's escape. When Saturn Girl, Chameleon Boy, and Kid Flash are knocked out while trying to subdue them, the duo convince Bio-Ship to stand down and carry them out if she wants the three to live.
- Perception Filter: Before her and Dick's interview of Clark, Zatanna cast a spell so that all anyone would overhear would be a discussion about an upcoming football game instead of secret-identity-revealing information.
- Playing Possum: Now that Phantom Girl has recovered thanks to Saturn Girl, she has to continue looking like she is in a coma, so she can warn Conner privately that they are in trouble.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: The Kaizer-Thrall is revealed to be powered by the remains of an 11-year-old human boy, who is still conscious within it.
- The Power of Trust: Clark refuses to divulge information about Saturn Girl and Chameleon Boy when Dick and Zatanna come to him with questions about their previous meeting. He can only tell them that he trusts the two, and that plus other evidence leads them to believe that Bart is willingly aiding them, even if they're frustrated by Superman stonewalling them on the specifics.
- Pulled from Your Day Off: It's revealed that Dick periodically returns to Haly's circus to work as an acrobat, and implied that he does so to clear his head. He's on tour at Jaime's hometown when Zatanna asks for his help.
- Race Against the Clock: Played with. Zatanna imposes a 24-hour time limit on herself when asking Dick for help in investigating Conner's death, because she's well aware that she's picking fresh scabs and doesn't want to push too hard or involve others if she can avoid it. Fortunately, that brief time frame is more than enough to prove Conner really is alive, so it becomes a moot point fairly quickly.
- Shout-Out:
- In order to free himself from within boxing staircases, Klarion exclaims "Dyn-o-mite!" in Sdrawkcab Speech. It's used more literally here compared to J.J.'s famous catchphrase.
- The Metropolis School District bus that Klarion hijacked years ago/recently is referred to as The Magic School Bus.
- Sidetracked by the Analogy: Zatanna explains to Clark that she's set up a glamour so that anyone who happens to overhear their conversation will think they're talking about the local baseball game. Clark is briefly sidetracked by who he favors in that game before she gets him back to the main topic.
- String Theory: In typical detective fashion, Dick has set up a link-analysis board to connect the pieces between Bart's disappearance and Conner's whereabouts.
- Summon Bigger Fish: When Klarion refuses to honor his debt out of gratitude and attacks the team for having the gall to summon him in the first place, Zatanna invokes the Holy Balance so the other Lords of Chaos will make him comply.
- Superhero Speciation: Discussed. Since Oracle does most of the hacking now, Nightwing's skills have gotten rusty, though he's still competent enough to hack bank accounts and security footage.
- Tempting Fate: When Dick and Raquel head down to Atlantis, Kaldur swims out to meet them and tells Dick that he's finally come to terms with Conner's death. Dick visibly winces.Dick: Yeah... about that...
- That Liar Lies: Ursa when Conner states that Krypton exploded over forty years ago. Unusually for this trope, he's telling the truth. Dru-Zod is more open to believing it, especially since Conner knows personal details about the House of El and his story would, at the very least, be pretty difficult for him to make up on the fly while still suffering from Zone-sickness.
- Tranquil Fury: Ursa-Zod is the most emotional upon hearing that Krypton is no more. She has to keep herself from losing her temper, and Dru has to prevent her from assaulting Conner in favor of getting as much information from him as they can.
- Unreliable Narrator: While informing the Zods that Jor-El's son Kal-El became Earth's greatest hero Superman, Conner tells them that he killed him, still mistaking his Zone-induced hallucination for a real memory.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Conner, still Zone-sick and unaware of Zod's villainy, tells Zod about the powers that Kryptonians gain under a yellow sun. Naturally, if Zod and his followers ever do get free, they will put this information to bad use.
- The Walls Are Closing In: Klarion retaliates against Rocket's force bubble by trapping her in a bubble and then slowly compressing it.
- Wham Shot: The Zods are shocked when Conner draws his house symbol. They are all too familiar with it because it's the insignia belonging to the House of El, the family of the brothers Jor-El and Zor-El who sentenced them.
- You Owe Me: Zatanna claims Klarion owes her for restoring his physical form and asks him to rescue Conner from the Phantom Zone as recompense. Klarion refuses because he's a Lord of Chaos and doesn't do debts, attacking her group for daring to summon him. When Zatanna invokes the Holy Balance, however, the other Lords of Chaos force Klarion to honor his debt, though he spitefully insists on doing so by sparing their lives rather than providing meaningful aid.
