scans_daily

Okay, recap first so massive spoiler warning.

The episode begins in Roanoke Island, where Klarion is meeting several other occult bad guys at a crossroads for some nefarious purposes. Meanwhile, Megan and Conner are unpacking their shopping for the week, while Artemis and Zatanna continue to hang out, like they did in the Secret episode. Art askes Zee if she's going to be an official member of the team, but she isn't sure due to how over protective her dad is. And just when she wishes he'll give her a little space... all the adults in the room (including Batman, Zatara and Red Tornado) disappear.

And thus everyone starts panicking, while back in Roanoke Blackbriar Thorn and the rest of the adult magicians also vanish.

Meanwhile, in Fawcett City, Billy Batson's uncle vanishes while a newsanchor namedrops the supervillain Ibac. Billy then twigs that since all the other adults have vanished too, he can't turn into Captain Marvel incase he disappears too.

Back in the YJ Cave, Zatanna and Robin are organising refugee centres for any potential victims of this event, and also find that all adults world over have vanished. Robin asks Zatanna if she can copy a spell her dad used to find the FakeLight from the previous episode, but she's unsure as it takes years of training, not just copying the incantation.

While they're doing that, Conner is saving kids trapped in cars after their parents vanished mid-journey, while Megan is gathering the rest up to put in the highschool gym so they don't accidentally kill themselves. Artemis is there in person, and is adorable in her attempts to entertain the kids while not remembering any nursey rhymes all the way through.

Using the emergency broadcast system that they established that they had in the dream episode, the Team relay a message around the world for children and teenagers not to panic, etc. etc. while images of heroes and people from around the world are shown. Billy, meanwhile, scales a fence to get into an airfield (despite the gate being open) and asks a teenage pilot to fly him to Happy Harbour (the JLA teleporter he normally uses not recognises him because of his kid voice).

Wally and Aqualad are talking, wondering whether it's the worstcase scenario that would require them to don the Helmet of Nabu... and decide against it for the time people. Zatanna says she's ready to attempt her father's locator spell, it works, but she looks worried for some reason.

Billy and Amber the pilot are flying to Happy Harbour, but it turns out that its her 18th birthday at the stroke of midnight, and she promptly vanishes midflight. Cue panicking.

Then we have a flashback, where it turns out that the adults have been teleported to a world where the teenagers and kids have vanished... interesting. I thought that this was Klarion screwing his comrades over. Showing the previous scene with Zatanna talking to Artemis, it shows her dad talking to Batman, where Zatara senior says that he's willing to let her join the team but he doesn't want to loose her, what with her getting older and being his old child. Aww.

Riots ensue on AdultEarth with a blond man, implictly Sportsmaster, deliberately inciting them by claiming that the likes of STAR Labs and the JLA know or are responsible for the kids going missing. The Light are also using the chaos to steal dangerous gear from said installations, one of which I think was their weapon from a previous episode.

Billy shazams and saves Amber, evidentally meaning she didn't have a plane in adult world. He goes to the YJ HQ, tells Batman about the two worlds and accidentally reveals his secret to the YJ when he returns back to World Without Grown-Ups. Megan confirms it with telepathy, though Wally is skeptical because, well, he's Wally. Billy basically confirms he's Cap by making a snide comment about the servant work Kid Flash made him do.

Using Billy's ability to travel between the worlds, Batman, Zatara and Red Tornado organise a plan to attack the magicians at both worlds at the same time. The team go and attack Klarion, and Kid Flash basically gets Artemis to try and kill Teekl (:() due to him being Klarion's anchor in the physical world. Doesn't work though, with Klarion turning his kitty into a sabretooth tiger thing.

The adults do a lot better, and Zatara tells Cap to tell the younger team that the weakness to the spell is to destroy the gem in the centre of the symbol that's powering the thing. Hearing this, Zatanna attempts to don the Helmet of Nabu, which she brought due to her lack of confidence in her skills. She puts it on.

Much kickass magical battles abound, and with a combination of Zatanna's power-up and Cap's quick thinking the day is saved. Though Klarion legs it while the rest of the sorcerers are captured, having being knocked out by Zatara striking them with lightning.

With everything sorted, Zatara attempts to get Nabu to release his daughter... only for him to refuse. The Lord of Order reasons that the chaos brought about by the spell justify him permanently possessing Zatanna, and her natural ability to control magic make her the perfect medium to carry out his purpose. Wally yells that Kent, the previous Dr Fate whose ghost was inhabiting the helmet and acting as a concious to the eldritch thing living in it, would never allow Nabu to hold Zatanna against her will, which results in Nabu saying that he banished Kent to the afterlife some time ago as his nagging was annoying him.

Zatara comes to a compromise, he'll don the helmet, and be trapped as Nabu's vessel forever, in exchange for him releasing his daughter. He then gives his magical word that he'll do this. Zatara is briefly thrilled to see her dad again, but after bidding his daughter and the JL fairwell, he put it on, and is posssessed forever. Effectively killing him, while leaving Zatanna alone and in shock.

The episode ends with the various kids meeting up with their older family members, Wally and his parents, Billy and his uncle, it's all very heartfelt... but the fact that Zatanna has to move into the YJ headquarters (what with her basically being an orphan now) still ends the story on a very sad note. Particularly as she ends up crying alone in the dark, as she's basically responsible for her father's death.

In the end note, the Light reveal the thing they that they stole from STAR Labs during the riots that Sportsmaster caused... and it's a chunk of Starro... Oh crap!

Review
I thought that this was a good episode, overall. Good, but not really up there with the best of the show, such as my highwater mark: Humanity. There were a lot of funny and well acted moments, mostly from Cap and Zatanna, as well as a number of interesting features, like the kid's world being the less disorderly of the two and Billy Batson seeming to be more emotionally mature than his older superpowered alter ego.

What really made the episode for me though was the ending. The relationship between Zatanna and her father was really one of the more interesting parts of the character, albeit not one that is explored that often. The fact that he was willing to effectively die for his daughter like the original did (over in Swamp Thing, where he chose to be incinerated during a spell to save her life) was a nice touch, and it was genuinely heartbreaking seeing where she was at the end of the episode.

Although it could be argued that it was her fault that her dad became the new permanent vessel for Nabu, I don't think that it should be counted as a bad move on the part of the creators. I mean, she as in a bad situation and used it as a means of last resort which they might not have won the day if she'd not done it... it's just a bad thing that was done for the right reasons, and resulted in a horrible cost to her personally. Considering how the show has dealt with trauma and character development in the past, hopefully this'll move for her to mature personalitywise instead of just sinking into despair or something.

Cameos
Klarion