OooBOY this review is going to be a difficult one to write. It's not my feelings on the episode that are in question, but the happenings of the episode itself! Ok, here we go, try to keep up.
The players: Black Manta (Aqualad's father, who doesn't know that Aqua is a double agent working against him). Deathstroke, the bad-ass replacement of Sports Master as the attack dog of a sinister group of ne'er-do-wells The Light. Tigress, who is actually Artemis (Sports Master's daughter) in disguise to help Aqualad infiltrate The Light. Cheshire, who is sister to Artemis…And then there is Miss Martian, the Young Justicee that is caught in the middle.
Aboard his submarine, Black Manta gives M'gann 24 hours to finally "fix" his son Kaldur'ahm, a feat that was already completed, unbeknownst to the baddies. You see, most of the important dialogue that takes place in this episode, is handled telepathically, with double-crosses and poorly timed interruptions coming at a break-neck pace. Hence the title. But while it may be somewhat wonky to explain in a review, Holy Hannah was it fun to watch. I got more enjoyment out of the back-stabbing and shell-game theatrics of this one episode then I did out of the entirety of the Bourne movies.
While Aqualad, Artimes and an inhibitor-collared M'gann try to figure a way out of their predicament, we cut to Warworld? Oh yeah, that thing is still there, just outside of Earth's atmosphere. Last time, I was impressed that this small moon-shaped thing was actually disturbing the waters of Earth, a level of reality I'm not used to from television series. So I guess I was a little surprised that the thing IS STILL THERE and, I assume…still messing up our planet just by being so close (yet the show doesn't mention that). Nightwing, Dr. Fate and Captain Atom question Beetles both Blue and Green as to what happened and where the rest of the team has been taken. Blue and Green come up with a reasonably believable Boom-Tube explanation to cover up that Jaime, under the influence of the Scarab, betrayed them and single-handedly took 'em down.
Speaking of Jaime, the one thing that still confounds me is how the Scarab actually works it's mind-magic. Does it just influence Jaime? Is the Scarab in complete control and Jaime's mind is in there just wishing it could do something? I'm curious to see if they'll ever show what BB is going through under that armor.
Back on the sub, Sports Master and his daughter Jade attempt to get revenge on the Mantas for "killing" Artemis. What follows is a whole bunch of lying, telepathy, revelations, back-stabbing and action! I've seen a mace on a chain before, but always wondered about it's practicality in a fight. Shows what I know, as SM uses that thing quite deftly, and it's pretty awesome to watch. Eventually Sports Master and Jade are let in on the secret, and help keep up with the ruse. SM and Jade escape, M'gann slips out, looking like she's been beaten but retreating, while Aqualad and Tigress get to keep their positions within the good graces of The Light.
However, skip to Cheshire stopping by to pick up her infant daughter and revealing to their mother that Artemis is alive. Something tells me that'll come back to bite someone in the tukhus.
Also, to wrap the espy up, Nightwing, having found Robin's Bird-a-Rang covered in Blue Beetle's armor-bits, finally comes to a revelation. I love how quickly this show moves. This is the opposite of how a lot of comic books on the shelves are written these days ("decompressed" and all that). I have a tendency to drift off or get bored while watching a lot of animated shows, but this one always seems to keep my A.D.D. in check!
Some of the cool:
The best was when M'gann finally got that inhibitor collar off and was able to unleash, so to speak and brought all of the necessary parties into a mind-meld, seemingly stopping time to allow them to get it all straight.
Some of the not-so cool:
WHY is WarWorld still allowed to sit in our orbit, blorching up our planet!?!?
No really good one-liners this go-round.
Oh, and there's a giant button labeled COLLAR CONTROL! Really? Yeah yeah, I get that it's needed, but still. Hilarious.
The wrap-up:
This was a surprisingly tense and suspenseful episode, and it the fact that this is the last season makes me want to sob uncontrollably while punching someone in the butt.