[S4E11] The Slap Fight
Back at the Tower of Fate, Zatanna refuses to leave. She begins to explain the situation with Child, but Fate stops her, saying he already knows and has no intention of intervening. Zatanna, despite Fate's doubts, knows what Fate is thinking; a Chaos Lord fighting another Chaos Lord sounds good. But she notes the devastation of Roanoke Island, and tells him the fight itself must be stopped now. Zatanna plans to have Fate confront Child and Klarion, allowing her Sentinels to strike from the Shadows. Fate does not believe they are up to the task, despite their protests, and so teleports them away to test them, before summoning viewing portals so he and Zatanna may observe their progress.
[S4E11] The Slap Fight
Thirteen finds herself in a dark space, and quickly realizes she is expected to prove herself. Behind her a puppet theater lights up. As she approaches it, a puppet of Blue Beetle appears, telling her she doesn't need to prove anything to him, her puppet boyfriend. He is soon joined by puppets of Zatanna and Beast Boy, her puppet mentor and puppet idol, respectively. Traci demands to know who is controlling them and to what purpose; they tell her they want to cheer her up. But Traci hears a voice, whispering darkly. Beetle tells her that the whispers are nothing, but the whispers respond; they are nothing, just like Traci. Traci realizes this is a test of her insecurities. Beetle tells her she has nothing to be insecure about, that all her friends think she is terrific. The whispers tell her they don't trust her to have their backs. Beetle tells her that her powers are cool. The whispers note she still hasn't mastered them. Beast Boy reminds her he asked her to join the Outsiders. The whispers say he was relieved when she said no. Zatanna talks about taking her on as a protégé. The whispers say she has then taken on Khalid and Mary to replace her. Traci shouts for the voice to stop, and storms behind the puppet theater to find who is behind it, only to find herself shrunk down on the theater stage. The puppets loom over her, and for the first time Traci sees the puppeteer and the source of the whispers; herself. The puppeteer calls Traci and fraud and tells her she is not ready for this fight, then has the Beetle puppet slap her to the ground.
Fate and Zatanna look from Traci's ordeal to Khalid's. Khalid stands in a shallow pool being fed by two waterfalls. Looking down he sees his reflection, but wearing hospital scrubs, not his street clothes. The reflection asks what he is doing, he should be in hospital, helping people. Khalid rebuts that he is helping people, as a hero, a different method. His method is magic, notes his mother, who emerges from one of the waterfalls. Seh questions his Muslim faith, saying the practice of magic is incompatible with Islam, and that a good Muslim would obey his mother. Khalid objects, he uses magic as a tool to do good, which is what Islam teaches him to do, and that she is using religion to try to control him. Jane says she wants a better, safer life for him, but his father emerges from the other waterfall to interject. Muhammed says that Khalid must honor his heritage, even if it means giving up medical school. Khalid insists he is not giving up medicine, that he can do both. The argument continues, and with each interjection from Jane, Muhammed, Khalid and his reflection, the water level rises. Just before the water rises above their heads, the reflection tells Khalid that they are drowning in his doubts, that he is not ready for this fight. The water rises, and Khalid and his reflection begin to drown.
At the Tower, Zatanna and Fate look from Khalid to Mary. Mary finds herself in a subway, when a younger version of herself demands she "say it". Mary insists they do not say that anymore, but hears the girl crying for help, and turns to see her with a foot stuck on the railtrack with a train incoming. Mary uses ley lines to summon the speed of Mercury, and races to pull the girl out of harm's way. The girl is angry, that wasn't the right way to save her. A pillar falls and the girl, now trapped, calls for help once more. Mary summons the strength of Hercules to lift the pillar, but once again the girl is unhappy. Mary says she promised not to say it again, so the girl decides she will: she calls out "Shazam!" and, in a flash of lightning, becomes Sergeant Marvel. Mary summons the stamina of Atlas just as Marvel begins to attack her. Between punches, Marvel berates her, calling her no hero and questioning her power. Sergeant hurls Mary away, telling her she is afraid to be herself and lacks the imagination to be something new; that without her, Mary is not ready for this fight. In the sitting room, Zatanna looks saddened.
Traci continues to be berated by the puppeteer, who taunts her for her bad luck magic, which is as likely to curse friends as enemies, before striking her once more. Next her urban magic is questioned; what if the fight isn't in a city? Another hit sends Traci flying. The puppeteer tells her she is not ready, and knocks Traci to the ground once again. Leroy crawls onto Traci's shoulder, licks her and winks at her. Traci thanks him, and rises once more. Defiantly, Traci tells the puppeteer that she lives with her insecurities every day, but she is not a quitter. She didn't need to join the Outsiders, she was already on the Team. she is afraid, but brave enough to ask for help. She trains and works to make herself better. She doesn't let failure stop her, at least not for long. With each statement, the puppets fall apart, and the puppeteer finds herself small, resting in the palm of Traci's hand. Traci drops the puppeteer version of herself, and declares that she is ready, as a portal forms beneath her feet.
Back at the sitting room, the students have returned and Zatanna praises them to Fate. Fate asks if they are ready to enter a battle that may easily kill them. They insist they are, but it matters little to Fate. He still has no intention of intervening in the fight.
Nabu finishes his story, told inside the Helmet of fate to Zatara. Zatara asks why he tells him what he already knows. So that he may understand why they do not intervene, Fate explains; he wants the Chaos Lords to fight until there is a victor, weakened by the fight. Only then will he step in to restore order. Zatara wonders how Nabu could miss the point of his own story. He views Fate as a lone champion, but that was never true, nor the intent of Lords of Order. Doctor Fate requires two champions, Nabu and his host, that he needs his host's unique strength. Zatara notes that each of the children Nabu had tested found strength in different ways; mentors, family, and faith. Zatara says his own faith is how he has survived the years as Nabu's prisoner, and recites the Lord's Prayer. Zatara reminds Nabu that the victories he cites would not have been possible without help, from the Justice League and even the Lords of Order themselves. Nabu may view cooperation as chaos, but it is in the unity of the disparate that order rises out of chaos. Zatara urges Nabu to step back and accept help from those who seek to aid him, starting by listening to Zatanna.
The episode follows the arc's backward titles scheme, this one translating into "Get Ready!". This could refer to Zatanna's clean-up spell, or the fact that Zatanna's Sentinels were challenged by Doctor Fate to test if they were ready for the fight.
This was a moving, poignant episode, but also a strange one. I expected the show to come back with more of a bang, to slap us across the face and really get the blood flowing. It was much more calm than that. That's fine, I suppose, but after such a long wait it's also a bit jarring, if only because so much of Ragnar's character development seems to have occurred off-screen.
Tori et ses amis doivent tourner un court métrage pour l'école. Trina poste une photo de Tori sur the slap et lui montre qu'elle a plus de neuf cent followers. Tori est jalouse et décide de tout faire pour avoir plus de followers que Trina. Ses amis font aussi tout ce qu'ils peuvent pour avoir le plus possible de followers et ne pensent pas à tourner le court métrage. Ils le tourneront vite fait à la fin et le court métrage sera très mauvais.
The most powerful part of this fight is when Jamie agrees not to kill Randall for one year, Claire goes to touch his hands and he physically recoils and tells her not to touch him. Claire is gutted and quite frankly (see what I did there), so are we.
Defenseless, the duo hide in a warehouse containing the parade floats, banners and fireworks for the Chinese New Year celebrations. Hiding behind a dragon's head, Jade instructs her future self to distract Drago so she can ambush him from behind, but Future Jade infers that if Drago were to eliminate her past self, she would no longer exist in the future, and there would be no one to stop Drago. The pair instead commandeer the dragon float, using its mechanical tail to slap Drago into a set of gongs, alerting Jackie, who had successfully tracked them to the site. Jackie's timely arrival appears to please Drago, who tells him that his father sends his best before proceeding to unleash his fiery breath. Jackie makes the mistake of fleeing amongst a crate of fireworks, which Drago ignites before bidding the three farewell. With some quick thinking, Future Jade is able to pluck Jackie from danger before the three manage to escape the warehouse. When Jackie asks Jade to explain, both Jade and her future self respond, and he quickly deduces the identity of his niece's kidnapper.
Meanwhile, Uncle has been tracking dark chi across the city with his chi detector, eventually arriving at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge where he unearths a dragon shrine containing the teeth. Before he can examine the teeth any further, however, his chi detector once again flies off the chart as Drago emerges to confront him before confiscating the teeth. After commandeering a pair of scooters, the three arrive at the location of the shrine, only to discover that the teeth are missing. They find Uncle suspended from a bridge, hanging upside down. Drago reveals himself, holding a vial containing the teeth whilst demanding that Future Jade provide him the portal spell required to return to the future, threatening to take Uncle "bungee jumping without a bungee". Whilst Jackie scales the bridge to save Uncle, Future Jade proceeds to fight Drago, but is eventually bested by the young dragon. Before Drago can finish her off with his fiery breath, however, Present Jade jumps in to save her, effectively knocking the vial containing the teeth out of his hand for Future Jade to secure. However, midnight has already arrived, and in the future, Shendu returns to his physical form, ready to devour Future Jackie and Future Uncle. Thinking alike, the two Jades mock Drago, calling him "the tooth fairy" and "a gecko with zits", enraging him enough to release a breath of fire, to which Present Jade then throws the teeth in its path, destroying them. This simultaneously destroys them in the future, reducing Shendu back to stone. More enraged than ever, Drago charges at the two Jades, only to be blasted away by Uncle, who asserts his belief that "magic must defeat magic" before wondering how the teeth had vanished. Future Jade explains that a "dragon's fire breath is magic, duh", to which Uncle asks "who is smarty-pants, good chi magic know-it-all who looks like Jade?", until it finally begins to dawn on him. 041b061a72