Last week of the Arrowverse, plenty of things were moving forward, especially in the area of legacy.
Supergirl had J’onn reunite with his father, after centuries of being apart. It was very touching for J’onn and Kara to go to Mars to help the White Martians, only for him to discover that he’s not the surviving Green Martian as his father was still alive after the purge. Maggie also had to deal with her own family drama as her father (who shunned her for being a lesbian) tried to come halfway to accepting her, only to back out last minute.
On The Flash, we finally learned about how the new metahumans were created as Barry return from the Speed Force unleased Dark Matter on a bus full of people. First, it was Kilg%re, and the next new metahuman was Becky, AKA “Hazard,” who gained the ability to alter probability in her favor (AKA “luck” powers) at the expense of everyone around her. It turns out that someone is responsible for orchestrating these new metahumans, and we got closer to discovering more about The Thinker.
Legends of Tomorrow took a trip to 2042 where Seattle was living in a police state under the watchful eye of an even further militarized ARGUS. We also got to meet Zari, a Muslim superhero who has her own totem, similar to Amaya’s, and she’s now the newest member of the Legends.
Arrow introduced us to a new Green Arrow as Diggle assumes the mantle from Oliver, who could no longer juggle so many hate (mayor, vigilante, and father) and opted to not spend his nights fighting crime. It was a learning curve for Diggle as he not only had to overcome his doubts of the big chair, but also had to find a way to overcome his injury (which will still play in a bad way sooner or later), and be able to actually shoot arrows.
So how did the Arrowverse go this week?
Supergirl: “The Faithful”
This season of Supergirl so far as focused on the aftermath of Kara losing Mon-El, and as a result, the writing has suffered. What has made Supergirl an interesting show the last two season has been her sunny outlook on everything. Like The Flash, Supergirl had the cheerfulness and the high optimism of a comic book shown weekly on the small screen. So far, it’s had an identity issue with where the show wanted to take Kara.
This week was a welcome change as it’s all about Kara, but not because she’s dealing with a depression of no longer being with the man she loves, but it deals with a real-world issue: religious fanaticism. One that has always just been beneath the surface of a comic book where your hearo is a literal god. Wouldn’t someone want to worship Supergirl of Superman, just for the fact that they can accomplish what you’ve been praying for with ease? Also, how would you react if you became the subject of devotion? It would be rather uncomfortable.
The episode begins with events of the first episode of Supergirl, all the way from Season One, when Kara was forced to use her superpowers to help Alex when her plane was getting ready to crash in the pilot episode. The opening scene focused on Thomas Coville, A man at his wit's end, endlessly drinking as a result of his life’s problems, who sees Kara after she saved the plane standing on the wing. When she saves his (and all of the plane’s passengers), he has a religious experience and creates a devotion surrounding her.
It first comes to Kara’s attention when Samantha (who may or may not be Kryptonian) is given a pamphlet for the cult at her daughter’s soccer game suggesting that she and her daughter are “chosen.” Kara sees it at work the next day and asks if she can have the flyer as she knows the symbol is a Kryptonian religious one. She, Winn, and James head to the meeting to check it out and see straight up that she’s now a religious icon.
Later on, Kara helps rescue a young man from a burning building, only to find out that he set the building on fire as a means to “prove his faith” and thanks her for rescuing him. Although the young man is rescued, Kara knows this is now a big problem. Coville’s teachings are causing people to put themselves in harm’s way as a means of exploring their faithfulness. Kara goes to Coville as Kara Danvers, journalist, and starts asking him about what he’s doing. Coville is no fool and knows immediately that she is Supergirl. Finally, someone isn’t fooled by those glasses. She then plays the role and orders him to stop what he’s doing, but we all know he won’t.
Turns out that Coville found a Kryptonian probe that detailed her culture’s history as well as their religion, which caused him to create his church. He then opts to bring more people to the faith by causing the probe to overload at a packed sporting event to force Kara to embrace herself as their God. This puts the entire packed stadium to be at risk for this “baptism by light.” Kara arrives there with Alex to try and stop everything. The only problem is that the probe also contains Kryptonian soil, aka Kryptonite, and she is powerless to stop it. As she’s trying to tell the faithful to stop this and leave, she cuts herself, proving she’s no god. Alex helps get rid of the soil allowing Kara to throw the probe down a shaft she creates with her heat ray vision, saving everyone there.
Meanwhile, Alex is having a difficult time. She loved Maggie, but Maggie has no interest in children. Through their interactions with Samantha and then later on going to Samantha’s daughter’s recital, Alex breaks down as she doesn’t know what to do. Does she want to spend the rest of her life with Maggie? Because if she does, a very important thing in her life will not be fulfilled.
The events of the episode have caused Kara to once again look to her Kryptonian faith and she starts to once again pray to Rao. She pays a visit to Coville in prison with the hope that he will keep her identity a secret. He tells her that he honestly doesn’t remember the name she told him when she first met him. He also tells her that she notices that she’s in turmoil and not only will he continue to pray to her, he will pray “for” her as well.
Lastly, Samantha is preparing to go to bed and looks in the mirror when she all of a sudden sees her reflection covered with all sorts of markings. A demonic woman then appears to her saying “From Rao’s fire you are born. One day soon you will reign.” Looks like we will soon find out the mystery of Samantha’s powers.
The Flash: “Elongated Journey Into Night”
This week on The Flash, we meet yet another new metahuman that’s part of The Thinker’s plans. This one strikes close to Barry’s past. Cisco also has his own adventure, trying to impress Gypsy’s dad, which proves to be far more dangerous than he previously thought.
Cisco and Gypsy are turning to be the “official” couple on The Flash. Sure, we have Barry and Iris, but at this point, we are taking them for granted. Heck, they are practically married at this point in their relationship. Cisco and Gypsy are still “fresh” and we get to see them go through all the puppy love that comes with a new relationship. The episode begins when Cisco is ready to take the next step in their relationship: what’s her name? Of course, we have all been just calling he “Gypsy,” but that’s her code name, not her real name. As the two are about to have an intimate moment, they are interrupted, by her father, none other than always scary looking character actor Danny Trejo.
Later on at STAR Labs when Barry and Joe are trying to learn more about who the man behind the curtain and responsible for getting everyone on that bus to gain new powers is, they get off the elevator and run into Gypsy’s father, Breacher. He comments on what we have been saying for three years, the security at STAR Labs sucks! Cisco told Breacher that Barry is his “assistant” as a means of impressing his potential father-in-law. Not that it makes any difference. Breacher then tells Cisco that he’s going to “hunt” him, and gives him only a 10-second head start. Breacher’s only rule, no vibe powers are to be used. Cisco now has to literally run for his life!
Meanwhile, they discover another person who was on the bus, Ralph Dibny. Barry knows who this guy is and already has a problem with him. Turns out, Ralph used to be on the police force, but he was fired for being dirty. Joe and Barry opt to have a conversation with him to see about his experience on the buy when Barry returned to see if he’s a metahuman. Given the bad blood between him, Barry, and Joe, he’s not too cooperative. They then leave and Ralph gets some new visitors, some bad guys Ralph has some history with coming to hang him off of a roof. There Barry and Joe find out that Ralph’s legs stretched pretty far, he’s a metahuman after all.
They have taken Ralph to STAR Labs for further studying. Barry just wants to lock Ralph up because of their bad blood. He thinks that with these new powers, Ralph will just do badly once again. There, we learn Ralph’s backstory. Ralph planted evidence as a cop as a means to framing a person he thought was guilty. Caitlin believes in second chances, and she’s Killer Frost and was given a second chance. Caitlin determines that in order for Ralph to be able to control his elastic powers, she needs some of his DNA. Barry and Iris find something at his apartment, but also discover a bomb planted. Someone wants to kill Ralph.
Turns out, Ralph has a beef with the mayor. After he was kicked off the force, Ralph’s PI work caused him to have some incriminating evidence against the mayor who sent his goons to kill him. Later on, as Joe and Barry and talking about how they lock up metahumans without trial, was he no different than planting evidence like Ralph did. As they are talking about Ralph maybe not being completely dirty, the mayor’s goons (actual cops) pay Joe and Barry a visit, and try to kill them. Ralph’s not the real bad guy, the mayor is.
Ralph goes to meet with the mayor to handle the blackmail he had set up for them. He just gives him the evidence, he doesn’t even want the money. When all seems fine, Ralph is then attacked by Breacher. Turns out Ralph’s metahuman power is eerily similar to the “Plastoids,” a race of aliens that destroyed his home planet. Cisco and Barry try to hold off Breacher from killing Ralph. Then, a new problem emerges, Joe tried to confront the mayor and gets held at gunpoint. Now they have to save Joe who’s being escorted away via helicopter. Barry pleads with Ralph for help, who uses his stretching powers to create a “rope ladder” for Barry to race up to save Joe. After saving Joe, he finally tells Barry what he’s been skittish with all episode, he’s going to be a daddy.
Cisco has earned Breacher’s trust as he saw him in action with Barry and realizes he’s a warrior in his own right and calls off the hunt. He still hates him, but he respects him. He then tells his daughter, “Cynthia” that they have a bounty to work on. Cynthia is Gypsy’s name!
Barry settles his beef with Ralph and tells him that he wants STAR Labs to study him, and he’ll even train him to use his powers. He gives him the code name we all knew he would have “Plastic Man.” He then asks Ralph how he found out about the mayor’s problems, and he reveals that he received a call from a man named “DeVoe.” This triggers a bunch of flashbacks from his conversations with both Abra Kadabra and Savitar where they mention the name, Mr. DeVoe. Now The Thinker has a name.
Legends of Tomorrow: “Phone Home”
When last week’s episode of Legends of Tomorrow ended, it seemed that we were going to be visiting It territory, as a young Ray Palmer befriended some sinister dark creature near a sewer drainage. Turns out, it was the ring movie. This was a complete love letter to E.T. instead.
The episode focused on Ray Palmer, who in 1988 died as a young boy. As current Ray flickered out of existence before the Legends’ eyes, Gideon gave them an update that he was killed as a young child. It’s now up to the Legends to travel back in time to rescue their friend.
They travel to Ray’s hometown of Ivy Town in 1988 where the young Ray has befriended some sort of creature. He’s cutting school and robbing candy from newsstands to feed the creature. Oh, and the creature, the little cute creature, is a baby Dominator. If you remember, the Dominators are the aliens that invaded during last year’s 4-night crossover between all the Arrowverse shows that were trying to take over earth and destroy all metahumans. The Legends automatically assumed that this cute little baby creature was either the first sign of another invasion, or at the least, a little monster that was going to kill young Ray.
Ray’s Dominator, Gumball, was too dangerous to just remain there, so the plan was to try and take it. Unfortunately, the Legends did not count on the young kid, who was alienated from the rest of the world except his new pet, to skip school to spend time with it. Adult Ray in his full Atom suit was forced to miniaturize himself, which made young ray then think he was one of his toys. Talk about an interesting way to interact with your past self. Zari is forced to hide under the bed. To help remedy the situation, Nate and Amaya come to his home under the guise of being animal control officers. Turns out Ray’s mom is a hottie and Nate (to make Amaya jealous) starts flirting with her big time. As Nate talks with Ray’s mom, both young and old Ray overhear her voicing concern for his well being as he spends too much time alienated, friendless, and only worrying about studies and invention. This causes the younger Ray to pack up Gumball and old ray and run away.
Sarah manages to track down Gumball’s mother, who even though is a full grown ruthless Dominator, she just wants her baby back. The mother Dominator manages to read Sara’s mind and know what’s going on. That means that she knows where Ray’s house is, and Ray’s mother isn’t safe.
But there’s yet another party in the mix. The same Men In Black who have been tracking the Dominator’s from last season’s episode are also tracking everyone. They manage to take Gumball, little Ray, and Zari to their secret base. There they have blocked the baby Dominator’s mental powers and subjecting it to torture. Zari, old Ray, and young ray then try to save the young alien. Yeah, this is very much like E.T.
Nate shows up to Ray’s house to try and warn the mother about the Dominator. The problem is, the other Dominator has already cocooned her up and is now impersonating him. She can read Nate’s thoughts to know that he’s attracted to her, and seduces him. To him of course, he’s making out with Ray attractive mom, but it’s really a 7-foot tall alien. Amaya arrives just in time and saves her ex-lover from completely hooking up with the mother Dominator and then it escapes.
Meanwhile, Stein has been secretive all episode. Mick and Jax are suspecting that he’s holding some sort of secret as he’s taking trips across time and erasing the logs. Mick suspects he’s being a mole for the Time Bureau and should not be trusted. However, when confronted, he reveals what he’s been doing in secret. He’s been traveling to 2017 to be with his daughter, who is due to have a baby any day now. Jax then goes with his friend so that his daughter can give birth to Stein’s grandchild and it’s a celebration all around for the birth. Towards the ends of the episode, Jax realizes that Stein needs to be with his family and no longer with the Legends. This means that Firestorm will need to be split up. But how?
Now it’s a race. The mother Dominator is after her child, who has escaped with the Rays and Zari from the Men In Black. In a field eerily similar to the woods in E.T., little Ray bids Gumball farewell as it is reunited with its mother to leave earth. Old Ray tells his younger self that he had human friends to keep him company as well. The cherry on top for the young kid is that the Legends go trick or treating with him. It’s a good thing the episode aired Halloween night!
Arrow: “Reversal”
This week’s episode of Arrow was adequately named. It’s only been one episode singe Diggle has taken over the mantle of the Green Arrow and Oliver is no longer a vigilante. Much of this week’s episode, Oliver has been sidelined from his former role, and you can tell he absolutely misses it.
The episode begins with Oliver and Felicity on a dinner date. Fans of “Olicity” should be happy that the two are giving it yet another try. However, it’s this time that Olivia has to cancel their date as she has Team Arrow business to deal with. For the first time, Oliver is an outsider looking in on all the vigilante activities.
Black Sire, Laurel Lance from Earth-2 is once again the primary villain, sorta. She begins the episode by seducing a “nobody” and then giving a sweet kiss of a sonic scream into the poor guy's ear, leaving Team Arrow to begin investigating her and why she’s after this poor guy. It turns out that the guy who tried to seduce Black Siren was a “nobody” numbers cruncher, so why is she after someone so boring?
Felicity also has her own problems to deal with. She first promised Oliver “desert” from their dinner (which was the weakest euphemism for sex ever made), but then her former Helix hacker friend-turned-enemy Alena shows up needing her help. Turns out the person that she betrayed Team Arrow on behalf of Helix for, turned out to be a bad guy (duh). Cayden James, the hacker mastermind, has a plan that will end with the death of 4% of the population. Something even Alena isn’t comfortable with, so she enlists Felicity to help her with.
As Felicity willingly goes back into the world of hacktivism, she goes with Alena to a seedy underground club with the purpose of purchase a specialized piece of equipment needed to find our mystery mastermind Cayden. As they meet their first opposition, Oliver steps in and helps beat up the bad guys. Even though he beats them up, Felicity tells Oliver that he needs to go home. Once again, Oliver is craving for the action, but it’s no longer needed.
Thanks to Curtis’ ingenuity, he can tracks Black Siren’s sonic screams every time she uses it. And after she kills yet another “nobody,” they can know where she was and predict where she’s going to be. At the same time, Felicity and Alena head to Helix’s former headquarters, and the bad guys are there at the same time. They then reveal Cayden James…. It’s Lost and Person of Interest’s Michael Emerson (another cameo!). Emerson plays James with the same cold calculation that he did with Ben Linus, so we now have a new favorite villain. In the aftermath, Team Arrow show up to save Olivia and Alena (although she is critically shot), Felicity uncovers James’ sinister plan. The “nobodys” he had Black Siren kill turned out to be “somebodies,” people responsible for the safeguarding of the Internet. James wants to take down the Internet. In doing so would affect social media, banking, power plants, military bases, water treatment plants, pretty much everything. Taking down the Internet will cause 4% of the population (at least) to die.
Now that they know what the plan is, Team Arrow has to race to save the Internet. As they discover the top-secret facility, they need some help against all of James’ goons (including Black Siren). Here comes Oliver to fulfill the role of “Overwatch.” Oliver even comments that Felicity made it so that Team Arrow’s tech systems so rudimentary that his son could use it. He guides Felicity throughout the location so that she can stop the destruction of the Internet. Yay for the good guys.
In the aftermath, Oliver and Felicity head home for “desert,” when Oliver receives a phone call. Slade Wilson is still looking for his son, and he needs Oliver’s help!
