Hey Folks!
Hope you’re a little past either your post-election celebration/blues, cause the DC Universe keeps on moving. This week on Supergirl, a new superhero steps forward. On The Flash, a new possible villain emerges. On Arrow, there’s a new vigilante in town, who just might not be on anyone’s side. Finally, on Legends of Tomorrow, it’s time to take another trip to the Old West.
Let’s take a look at each of these shows and what happened this week.
Supergirl: “Changing"
This week on Supergirl is a little election-timely as two soon-to-be hot-button political issues are on the forefront.
The first issue is a little subtle. This week, our main villain is a climate change scientist who discovers an alien parasite which quickly transforms him into an energy hungry monstrosity that comic fans know as Parasite. Parasite spends most of the episode stalking climate polluters and killing them by draining their energy. Supergirl tries to stop her, but he can even drain her energy. He even sucks the energy out of Martian Manhunter. Needless to say, he’s a force to be reckoned with.
The second hot-topic issue is related to Alex as she continues to deal with her Maggie and her awakened feelings. As Alex talks with Maggie, Maggie recommends she comes out to her loved ones. This episode helps viewers probably not familiar with LGBT issues the difficulty that some people have when finally addressing their sexuality. Even though it can be liberating, it’s also confusing and scary as well. Kara is supportive of her sister, but even she is taken aback as she had no clue. Alex is happy she has finally come out and tries to celebrate with Maggie by giving her a kiss, only to find out that Maggie doesn’t see her like that as she was only helping her out as a friend. As soon as Alex was happy, she is heartbroken. Lucky for her, Kara is a great shoulder to cry on.
A revived Supergirl and Guardian are able to take Parasite out and save the day. Martian Manhunter is only revived because Miss Martian gave him some of her blood. Because she is a White Martian, this might affect him in some way as she apologizes to him for doing so.
The Flash: “Shade”
This season of The Flash already introduced us to Wally West as Kid Flash during the Flashpoint timeline. Since then, Wally has become focused on gaining the ability to have speed, almost annoyingly. On tonight’s episode, some of the Flashpoint timeline is starting to bleed over as Wally is having visions of the alternate reality. He knows he has the ability to have speed, and is now focused on getting it. Thanks to Doctor Alchemy, he just might get it. He already gave The Rival his speed force powers, so it looks like Wally’s next.
Because Wally was mortally injured by The Rival during the Flashpoint timeline, Joe and Barry are worried that Wally may be hurt as well in this reality. All of Team flash agrees that the best way to help Wally is to keep him locked down at Star Labs. It seems wrong to hold them in a “prison,” but it’s for his own good. Even while he is locked down, he hears Doctor Alchemy in his head calling out to him.
Meanwhile, Team Flash has their own issues, namely Killer Frost. Caitlin confided to Cisco of her powers fearing she will end up like her Earth-2 counterpart and asked him to vibe and see if it bears any fruit. As Cisco vibes, he sees a possible timeline where he is engaged in a full battle against her and they are both using their full-fledged powers against each other. Cisco lies to her about the vibe, but eventually brings it up to Team Flash.
The team decides to use Wally as bait to find Doctor Alchemy and it almost works. There’s almost a cult surrounding him and as they confront Doctor Alchemy, a new player shows up and take Barry down. Comic book fans know him as Savitar, the God of speed.
Arrow: “Vigilante”
It’s getting crowded in Star City. We already had many vigilantes on Team Arrow, but the old guard is mostly gone and there’s a new team of vigilantes supporting The Green Arrow. Now there is another player, and he’s a little bit like Season One Green Arrow, when he was “The Hood” and ruthlessly killing bad guys.
Oliver has to make a decision. He has to ask, “is it OK for the new vigilante to be killing without due process?” Or “should the new vigilante be like Team Arrow and fight crime?” Oliver decides that there’s a right way to do it, and it should not involve killing. Team arrow not only has to take on the bad guys Vigilante is taking on, but also take on Vigilante at the same time.
So who could this new vigilante be? My money’s on that Felicity’s new boyfriend Billy as he was way too interested in the Green Arrow when she told him the truth.
Elsewhere, Quinten confronts Thea about his alcohol abuse and offers his resignation. When she goes to demand answers, he reveals to her the cut on his arm as well as the Prometheus throwing star he found at his house. He’s either a “blackout serial killer,” or Prometheus knows that he knows who the Green Arrow is. Either way, he’s a liability. Thea instead decides that Quinten still is grieving over his daughter and needs help. She helps check him into rehab. The two have a very touching moment as he leaves to check in. It’s almost as though he’s becoming a surrogate father figure for her.
The big reveal at the end of the episode is that someone on Team Arrow is a bad guy. Well, in this case, it’s a girl. Turns out Artemis, the one who most had a little problem with Oliver after he was revealed to being a former killer who told her not to kill, is in league with Prometheus. She meets with him telling him that the rest of the team doesn’t know anything about her.
Legends of Tomorrow: “Outlaw Country”
This week on Legends of Tomorrow, it’s time for another trip to the Old West. Comic fans loved last season’s episode where they went back into the Old West, so if it ain’t broke….
They now know that an evil Speedster is working with Damien Darhk. But before they can even figure out what to do, another time Aberration is discovered. This one is in the old West as an outlaw has killed a time pirate and stolen their technology. The week’s bad guy is Quentin Tumbull played by Jeff Fahey, who has enough Dwarf Star material (the same material used in the Atom suit that he can literally take over the west coast of the United States, which is what he intends to do.
Lucky for the Legends, an old friend is in this timeline as well. Jonah Hex also has a problem with Tumball, and after saving Hex from Tumball they enact a plan to stop him.
Each of the Legends gets a chance to shine. Sara continues to be just as good a captain (if not better) as Rip Hunter was. Hex is not used to having a woman lead, but by the end of the episode, she’s gained his respect. Nate is tired of being the bookworm, now that he has the ability to turn into solid steel and wants to flex his superhero muscles. Although he discovers his weakness in Dwarf Star bullets, once healed he helps save the day by using his incredible strength to stop a moving train head on. Heatwave and Vixen do a little bonding as outsiders of the group. Heatwave keeps a macho facade up most of the time, but she can see that it’s both genuine and also a façade at the same time. She reminds him to keep his dark ways, but there’s more to him than that.
However, not all is well for everyone. Stein, having encounter past versions of himself is starting to feel the effects of impacting his own history. He has devastating headaches, and is now seeing visions of a new woman in his life. Turns out whoever this woman is, Stein is starting to get the impression that he loves whoever this woman is. What does that mean for his current wife? Will she still be his wife? Will she even exist?
Now that the good guys have a cache of the Dwarf Star material, does that mean that Ray Palmer is going to build himself a new Atom suit? That remains to be seen. However, he did use some of the material to create a “superhero” suit for Nate that’s very reminiscent of his grandfather (and Captain America). However, the Legends are interrupted by a message telling them to return to 2016. This is absolutely a setup for the big four-night crossover for all the DC CW shows.
