Hey Folks!
This week in the DC CW Universe, all our heroes went on crazy adventures. In Supergirl, Kara goes to meet the president of the Unites States who was pushing through some new legislation to help aliens across the country, but there’s also an assassin. On The Flash, Barry’s Rogues gallery got a little bigger and there’s more romance all over the place. On Arrow, Oliver stepped up to rescue Diggle from his false imprisonment. Finally, on Legends of Tomorrow, the Legends ended up in ancient Japan and a fight over the atom suit has dire consequences.
Let’s take a look at each of these shows and what happened this week.
Supergirl: “Welcome to Earth"
This week of Supergirl had some serious political overtones. Some of them came across like a hammer, others were a little more subtle. The main story of the show focused on the President coming to National City to push her new agenda, an alien amnesty agreement to allow aliens across the United States to “come out” and be accepted as members of society. A lot of the political speech by the president could be substituted for today’s conversation about undocumented immigrants. A fire-wielding alien named Scorch tries to assassinate the president because she believes that the amnesty will lead to registration of them.
Supergirl is very ecstatic to meet the president guest starring the original Wonder Woman Linda Carter. There are a few tongue-in-cheek references to Carter’s original Wonder Woman TV show. One example is when Supergirl does her twirl move to put out a fire. The president also makes a Wonder Woman reference when talking to Supergirl about Air Force One saying that she should see her “other jet,” making us all chuckle when thinking about the original invisible jet. Towards the end of the episode, it is revealed that the president is also a closeted alien as well.
The show introduces a new character, Maggie Sawyer, a detective who teams up with members of the DEO investigating an attack on the president by Scorch. Sawyer understands the “alien underground” world and even allows Alex to come with her to an alien bar. The bar parallels LGBT bars allowing them to comfortably be themselves in their own safety. Towards the end of the episode, Martian Manhunter goes in there where he meets another Martian, M'gann M'orzz, AKA, “Miss Martian.”
The other part of the story consisted of the introduction of Mon-El, the mysterious alien who arrived in the Kryptonian ship at the beginning of the season. Turns out Mon-El is not from Krypton, but from Daxam. Daxam is Krypton’s sister planet, and they have not gotten along over the years. As a result, Supergirl thinks that Mon-El is the original culprit who tried to assassinate the president due to her mistrust of his people. By the end of the episode, both Kara and Mon-El must put aside their prejudices of each other’s people and learn to live together as they are the last surviving members of their perspective peoples.
The Flash: “The New Rogues”
A new week, a new metahuman is introduced. Well, this week two new metahumans are introduced. In the comics, The Flash has the best arsenal of supervillains, and as a result, they have a plethora of bad guys to choose from any given week. This week we get to meet Mirror Master and The Top. Both are former criminals who were hit by the particle accelerator wave and gained superpowers. Mirror Master gained the ability to use any reflective surface as a means of travel/teleportation. His girlfriend The Top gained the ability to induce vertigo in her enemies. Both are basically superpowered fun house carnies, but both want to reclaim their criminal crowns
Jesse Quick and Harry from Earth-2 are still on Earth-1 one as well. Jessie wants to learn how to use her speedster powers so she can be The Flash on Earth-2. Harrison wants to help them find a new Harrison Wells from another Earth to help Team Flash with science-related matters. This leads to some great performances by actor Tom Cavanagh as he gets to play different versions of Harrison Wells across the multiverse. The team finally decides that the new Wells will be from Earth-19. Earth-19 Wells is also a genius, but very eccentric. Earth-2’s Harry starts to feel some kind of way as he prepares to leave Team Flash, but they tell him that there’s only one “Harry” and he can’t be replaced.
This episode also had its share of romances. Barry and Iris are trying to enjoy themselves as a couple. However, with Barry living with Joe, it makes for some awkward encounters when he and Iris try to get “petty.” It’ clear that Barry will have to go through an adjustment period in this relationship as he’s spent his whole life under a different set of rules. Also on the romance front is Jesse Quick and Wally. Wally doesn’t really want to take it further than friendship as Jessie is from Earth-2 and they wouldn’t be able to see each other, but still gives her a kiss. Finally, it looks like Joe is going to get himself a woman as well, as he’s taking a shining to is also expressing interest. When we think about comics, romance usually doesn’t scream out, but this show manages to make it believable.
Arrow: “Penance”
Arrow this week was all about the breakout of Diggle. At the beginning of the season, he was betrayed by his peers and left to take the fall from a few corrupt army officials who stole one of Damien Darhk’s nukes. Oliver, always defiantly loyal to his friends, goes against Felicity and his new team and teams up with Diggle’s wife to break him out. Even after the new team goes to try and stop Oliver, he delivers a beat down to them.
The side story consisted of Team Arrow operating on their own. First off, Rory, AKAA Ragman doesn’t want to be on the team anymore. After Felicity confessed to him that she is responsible for the nuke attack on his hometown, he can’t bring himself to work with her. Much of the episode he is missing in action. This leads him to come at the eleventh hour to help his team out as they take on Tobias Church.
Oliver’s breakout is very Mission Impossible-ish. Surprisingly, he doesn’t don his Arrow costume, but instead operates in the shadow. However Diggle at first doesn’t want to escape. Diggle has resisted his wrongful imprisonment because of his guilt over killing his brother. He would rather serve his sentence because he feels he deserves it. Oliver convinces him that he does have to serve his penance, but not in prison, just in his regrets as Oliver does for all his failures.
Church’s team leads an assault on the city’s anti-crime unit and it’s up to the neophytes to come and save the day. They are not yet a well-oiled machine, but with Oliver MIA, they have to go on their own. Surprisingly, they fare well as they help rescue the District Attorney and Lance and some police officers. This isn’t without a cost though as Wild Dog is forced to be left behind and is now a prisoner of Church, who promises to break him down through some merciless beatings. After rescuing Diggle, Oliver promises that they will get him back. After all, Oliver risked everything to rescue Diggle, he won’t leave his teammates behind.
Enough with the flashbacks!
Legends of Tomorrow: “Shogun”
Thanks to the Nazi super soldier serum, historian Nate Haywood has now gained superpowers. It’s a good thing too because having his superpower as “historical librarian” was kind of lame. Nat’s new powers is the ability to transform into organic steel, similar to Colossus from “X-Men.” As with gaining new superpowers though, it takes some time to learn how to use these newfound powers. Through some training in The Wave Rider “Danger Room” style, they cause a problem for the ship as a whole is opened in the bulk of the ship and Nate falls out into the timestream. Ray Palmer goes after him and they both end up in Feudal Japan.
In addition to that, Vixen has snuck aboard the timeship to enact revenge for Hourman’s death last week. His last words before dying was telling her about a time traveler killing him. She automatically thinks that the Legends are responsible for his death instead of the Reverse Flash. Even though Sara convinces her that it wasn’t the Legends, she’s not trusting of Mick Rory as she sees him as being a man without honor. However when they all go to ancient Japan to rescue Ray and Nate, he proves her wrong.
In ancient Japan, Nate befriends a local woman who is due to marry the shogun. This is very reminiscent of The Last Samurai, where a “Gaijin” comes in and saves the poor villagers. When the shogun gains Palmer’s Atom suit, he is now able to take over the region. It’s up to Ray to help Nate learn how to use his powers to be able to destroy the Atom suit. This causes a little bit of trouble for Ray as his ability to be a superhero is directly tied to the Atom suit. He will have to let go of being The Atom if they are to succeed. In the end, they are able to defeat the shogun and destroy the Atom suit and although Palmer is saddened at the loss, he’s proud of Nate. Very cool Easter egg, the local woman Nate befriends is the direct ancestor of Suicide Squad member Katana.
While trying to fix the problems of the Wave Rider, Jax and Stein discover a secret room that Rip Hunter kept secret from the Legends. In this room is a full-fledge armory and a secret message from Barry Allen from 2056. We don’t get to hear what the message is, but it must be important. Barry’s message was so important that he told Rip not to tell the other Legends. Jax and Stein decide not to tell the rest of the Legends as well.
Hopefully that armory has a spare Atom suit!
