The CW’s robust lineup of DC Comics-based shows—oft dubbed the Arrowverse—can be a lot to keep up with. Join us weekly as Andrew Tejada keeps you current on all that goes on in their corner of TV Land!
A new hero arrives that may help Batwoman, Supergirl and Black Lightning ramp up towards their series finales, The Flash deals with issues of parenthood and the Legends warns us about the dangers of fast food on:
This Week in the Arrowverse! (May 9th-11th)
[Spoilers Ahead]
Batwoman S02E13 I’ll Give You a Clue”
Out-of-Context Quote of the Week is from Luke Fox: “Just because I didn’t go to MIT, doesn’t mean I didn’t get in.”
Despite having a lot of friction between them, Crows Security Officer Sophie Moore and newly minted Batwoman Ryan are forced to work together to stop the cruel Cluemaster. During their journey, they ally with his daughter, the extremely intelligent Stephanie Brown. Her presence is a huge potential gamechanger: In the comics, she’s taken on the superhero mantles of Spoiler, Robin, and Batgirl. Between her historic significance and cute interactions with Luke Fox, I’m looking forward to seeing more of her.
While Brown and Fox deal with Cluemaster directly, Ryan and Mary get stuck in one of the villain’s traps. They can only escape by confirming Sophie’s suspicions that Ryan is Batwoman. Hopefully, this reveal will help cool down their rivalry permanently. Meanwhile, Alice, A.K.A. Beth Kane, spends the episode trapped in Black Mask’s basement and guarded by Circe Sionis. This is where the episode fully leans into the bizarre. Although Circe believes she is Black Mask’s daughter, she’s actually a brainwashed Kate Kane who received severe burns that damaged her body and face. After Alice sews her new face, the Wonderland-themed villain realizes that Cersei is actually Kate. This weird turn of events ends with Alice and Kate’s dad wheeled into Mary’s clinic after he took too much of Black Mask’s new street drug.
Final Thoughts: The number of secrets that were uncovered and revealed in this week’s episode is staggering. But new characters like Stephanie Brown show a lot of great promise for the series.
Legends of Tomorrow S06E02 “Meat: The Legends”
Out-of-Context Quote of the week (when Legends look at alien goop): “Don’t touch that and definitely don’t eat it.” “Why would I eat it?”
In this episode, Sara and Gary explore an alien planet they crash-landed on. Meanwhile, the rest of the Legends try to save a 1950s town from an alien parasite hiding in fast food. On Sara’s side of things, we learn that Gary’s been hiding on Earth as an alien for three years. Before we can process… the ton of questions this raises, the duo meets Amelia Earhart. They enjoy a nice meal before the aviator reveals she’s part alien and attacks Sara.
Back in the 1950s, the team finally finds the source of the parasite in a local woman’s house. She was using the slime from an alien cocoon to… make burgers taste better. Among this bizarre twist, Spooner, the newest member of the Legends, gets some time to shine. Not only does she take out the alien in the end with a very powerful gun, but she also gives us deeper insight into the pain being abducted by a UFO has caused her. Spooner leaves the episode extremely ready to shoot more aliens. And as a quick side note, although Legends members Behrad and his sister Zari have spent the episode arguing over who gets their family’s wind totem, an alternate timeline version of Zari snaps her fingers and gives them each a totem. Could she… have done that earlier and prevented the fight?
Final Thoughts: Although Legends of Tomorrow is typically a weird show, alien Amelia Earhart, among other things, makes this episode a particularly bizarre offering. But it does succeed in making me want to see more of Spooner on the team.
Black Lightning S04E11: “The Book of Reunification: Chapter Two”
Out-of-Context Quote of the Week is from Tobias: “You carry guns because the bad guys do. Why not do the same with powers.”
Nearly every hero gets their time in the spotlight on this week’s episode as the show ramps up to its series finale. Gambi gets one step closer to finding the evil device Tobias designed to nullify most all of the heroes’ powers. Meanwhile, Jeff reveals his identity to Detective Shakur so that they can finally have an open partnership. Together, they are able to stop a corrupted FBI agent from committing more crimes. And in the most tragic plotline, Jennifer finally gets to go on a date with her new love interest Uriah. Unfortunately, Tobias’ henchman Red kills Uriah before their relationship can go any further.
As most of the crew deals with the chaos in Freeland, Khalil A.K.A Painkiller tries to help his allies by capturing a powerful metahuman named Looker working for Tobias. Although I wasn’t initially sold on a Painkiller spin-off TV show, these Khalil scenes have won me over. The action scenes are spectacular, his dynamic with his evil alter-ego is entertaining, and his journey to repair his mind so that he could hopefully return home is a compelling plot. And he gets things done! After capturing the very, very racist metahuman Looker, Tobias decides to send his hired assassin Ishmel after Painkiller.
Final Thoughts: The journey to the final confrontation between Black Lightning and his allies versus Tobias has been a fun ride. And the groundwork they’re laying for the spin-off Painkiller show is solid enough to get me hooked.
The Flash S07E09 “Timeless”
Out-of-Context Quote of the Week is from Joe: “You can never judge your kids by who they are now. Judge them by who they know they can be.”
Barry tries to solve a new problem with an old mistake in this episode. Last week, the Speed Force, who is currently presenting itself as his mother Nora (for… reasons), used his powers to help kill the living embodiment of the Strength Force. After realizing that he and Iris accidentally created the Strength Force and two other new forces a couple of weeks earlier, Barry decides he should go back in time and prevent himself from bringing these new forces to life. Although pretty much everyone tells him not to, he goes to execute his plan. But after realizing that the forces he created are kind of like his and Iris’… kids he decides not to change the past for once and deal with them in the present.
While Barry tries his best not to screw up the timeline (again), Iris tries to find NORA before she can cause any more damage. Unfortunately, she stumbles across the man known as Psych, who can cause nightmarish visions with the power of the Sage Force. Although Iris tries to reach out to him, he instead subjects her to horrible visions and tries to take her down. Fortunately, she escapes to try and connect with her spiritual son another day. Outside of this plotline, Cisco comes to the realization that he needs to leave Central City. Since his actor, Carlos Valdes, is set to leave the show at the end of the season, we can expect to hear more about his decision in the upcoming weeks.
Final Thoughts: Seeing these forces of nature being treated like Barry and Iris’ children is going to take some getting used to. Luckily, plotlines like Cisco moving on with his life and the idea that Barry will have to win over powerful forces instead of trying to beat them are grounded enough to keep the show from becoming too ridiculous.
Supergirl S06E07 “Fear Knot”
Out-of-Context Quote of the Week is from Dreamer: “You gonna teach us how to cast a Patronus, Kelly?”
Supergirl concludes the first half of its final season by having all the characters face their worst fears. Ever since the end of the first episode, Supergirl has been trapped in The Phantom Zone, a place basically occupied by Dementor/Zombie hybrids. The rest of our allies have finally found a way to pilot a ship and pick her up. Before they can reach her, one of the Phantom’s makes them see terrible nightmare visions. In an interesting turn, not everyone is able to beat their fears.
Dreamers’ anxiety about not being able to interpret her dreams in time to save people (because she never learned how to do so from her mother) comes into the forefront. In her nightmare, this costs Brainy his life. Alex also is unable to overcome her fear that she’s a liability to her friends that can be sacrificed at any moment. But it isn’t all doom and gloom. While Lena is finally able to accept her mother’s death in her nightmare, Kelly accepts that she’s the only member of the crew who doesn’t have special abilities. At one point, Kelly wields a shield that her brother James used when he was the hero Guardian. Are they setting her up to take his place? As we let that question marinate, and Brainy deals with his anxiety towards… balloons… the Super-team finally rescues Supergirl. We’ll see more of their reunion after the show returns from its hiatus at the end of August.
Final Thoughts: This week’s fear episode delayed the long-awaited reunion between Supergirl and her team by subjecting everyone to horrific nightmares. On the bright side, these terrible visions provided some excellent setup for the final half of the series
Andrew Tejada is an NYC native so there’s a 90 percent chance this was written on the subway. When he’s not writing or consuming movies/tv, he’s pitching his Static Shock screenplay to anyone who’ll listen. More of Andrew’s projects and words can be found on Facebook at “Arete Writes Things.”
