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!
The Legends have to stop an alien from invading a sitcom, The Flash and his kids continue the Godspeed war, and Superman and Lois try to keep hope alive as their enemies get closer to victory on…
…This Week in the Arrowverse!
[Spoilers Ahead]
Legends of Tomorrow S06E09: “This is Gus”
Out-of-Context Quote of the Week is from Imran: “It’s My life onscreen. I know it’s not for everyone, but for those that get it, it’s life-changing.”
Shortly after the Legends forget Behrad’s birthday, their new alien detection system tells them that a spaceship is going to land in Vancouver. Fortunately for the team, that’s exactly where Behrad’s favorite show “Bud Stuy” was filmed. This seemingly wacky setup offered a surprising amount of depth: Over the course of the episode, we find out that “Bud Stuy” is a stoner sitcom that stars two Muslim actors named Imran. Although the show was canceled after only two seasons in-universe, Behrad championed the show. He insisted that seeing the duo onscreen made him feel seen and gave him license to be himself. I love that the show took time to explore how important diverse shows can be to traditionally underrepresented groups. They further develop this idea after Spooner accidentally sends an adorable alien hurtling toward the set.
The cute alien (nicknamed Gus Gus) is added to the show in an attempt to boost ratings. But it ends up pulling the attention from the diverse leads and changing the nature of the sitcom. And since the show was so influential to Behrad’s development, he goes from a fun-loving Legend to an uptight businessman. Seeing the Legends rush to save him makes it clear how important Behrad is to the team dynamic. And while his plotlines haven’t always connected with what his teammates were going through, his journey has a direct effect on his sister Zari. The original “Hacker” version of Zari has been trapped in the wind totem for a while, and since she lost Behrad early on in her timeline, she greatly appreciates every moment she has with him. The new Zari decides to stay in the totem so the hacker can live in the real world for a while. It’s exciting to see the original Zari get justice and finally get back into the spotlight.
While Behrad and Zari were making huge strides, Mick Rory got an unexpected visit from his daughter Lita. When she announces she’s pregnant, the hothead doesn’t take the news well. At one point, Sara is worried that Mick will burn Lita’s boyfriend to a crisp. But he surprisingly bonds with the boy while admitting that he misses his alien fling, Kayla. While it was nice to see Mick open up, his side-plot felt largely disconnected from the rest of the episode—and it also ended with the bizarre twist that he’s pregnant with Kayla’s alien baby (or possibly babies). Legends has definitely dived into weird territory like this before, but it’ll be interesting to see how Dominic Purcell’s Rory pregnancy will factor into the rest of the season. Since Purcell is due to leave the show at the end of this season, it’s likely the baby will be a major part of Rory’s decision to leave the ship.
Final Thoughts: While Rory’s story this week was mainly set up for later plot points, the show did right by Tarazi siblings. Seeing a version of Zari get agency and Behrad champion diverse representation in media made for a feel-good episode with strong messages.
The Flash S07E17: “Heart of the Matter – Part 1”
Out-of-Context Quote of the Week is from Cisco (after saving the lives of three speedsters with his Vibe gauntlets): “I leave Central City for five seconds.”
The Flash kicked off its milestone 150th episode by flashing forward to the future and giving us a scene where Nora and Bart West-Allen fight Godspeed. While Nora takes after the tactical aspects of her dad, Bart’s cockier and tends to follow his impulses. The actors have great chemistry that immediately make them feel like believable siblings, and Bart’s suit looks absolutely awesome in live-action next to his sister Nora’s costume. While the two get along fairly well, Barry is not a fan of his future son’s impulsive nature. The father and son consistently butt heads about who calls the shots and what to do about the Godspeed War. It felt a little tiring to get another plotline where Barry clashes with his kids so soon after the extended “Force children” arc. Fortunately, Bart brings an interesting wrinkle to the conflict.
We discover that Godspeed kills Bart’s “uncle” Jay Garrick in the future. Actor Jordan Fisher really makes us feel the young speedster’s pain and desperation to avenge his mentor’s death with an effective performance. It also helps that original live-action Flash actor John Wesley Shipp returned to reprise his role as Jay Garrick. Although he spends a good chunk of the episode at the mercy of a bunch of Godspeed power rangers, he still lit up the screen every time he appeared. Hopefully, we’ll get to see him and guest star Cisco bring an end to this extended speedster war: While the mystery surrounding the Godspeed clones was fun at first, the show has drawn it on so long that I just want answers. Since Barry found a way to get in touch with the original Godspeed this week, we should get a concrete end to this storyline soon.
While the main speedster plot raced along, the other two plotlines moved at a slower pace. Joe and Kramer were given just a few minutes to continue their team-up story. Although Kramer recently found out she might be a clone, metahuman, or both, we don’t get much time to see her truly process this revelation. And after they spend an entire episode getting to Central City, they’re immediately caught up in the Godspeed War. Their plotline didn’t fare much better than Allegra’s; after she spent multiple episodes trying to help her cousin Ultraviolet leave behind a life of violence, Ultraviolet was unceremoniously killed last week. It takes nearly the entire episode before Allegra tells one person that she suffered a major loss. I’m still unsure why they spent so much time building the dynamic between the cousins just to tear it down so quickly. The fact that only one of her friends noticed something was off felt like Allegra was barely connected to the team. When the speedster war ends, they should start focusing more on her character’s journey.
Final Thoughts: Flash sped through potentially interesting plotlines in its quest to continue the long-running speedster war. But the presence of legacy characters like Cisco and Jay alongside new additions like Bart kept an uneven episode entertaining.
Superman & Lois S01E12: “Through the Valley of Death”
Out-of-Context Quote of the Week is from John Henry Irons: “If hope is what you need, you’ve got the wrong guy.”
In the last episode, Superman agreed to let a Kryptonian mind take over his body to keep his family safe. This week we found out that Clark had actually agreed to let General Zod into his head: Superman spends the majority of the episode trying to keep the Kryptonian villain from taking complete control. While Clark struggles to keep the General out, his allies debate on whether or not they should take down the blue boy scout permanently. Lois believes there’s still hope, but her father Sam and John Henry Irons are ready to use deadly weapons against Superman. While it’s not surprising to see Irons vote for a violent solution, I didn’t expect Sam to side with Irons so quickly. Mr. Lane has spent the season learning how to trust Superman more. Seeing him this eager to take out Superman seems like a big step back in his ongoing character development.
While Superman’s allies are still debating what to do, the Lang family is under heavy fire from the townspeople. Both Kyle and Lana Lang unintentionally participated in Morgan Edge’s brainwashing scheme. Although they definitely made mistakes, it’s hard not to feel bad for the family as they endure verbal attacks and vandalism. Their struggle to stay positive in the wake of all the hatred directed towards them is genuinely compelling. While their storyline felt natural to the overall plot, John Diggle’s arc didn’t fit nearly as well. I’ve loved seeing him pop up on the other Arrowverse shows, but he was given so little to do in this particular episode that I wondered if he could have been better utilized in a different plotline. He doesn’t get much time to make a splash here before the show returns to the main conflict.
After Jordan uses his super-hearing to find out where his brainwashed dad is being held, Jonathan and Lois separately try to convince Irons to spare Superman’s life. Both conversations are well-written and highly emotional. While Jonathan reminds Irons that Clark is a father, Lois tearfully reveals to Irons that she’s married to Superman. Irons has both of these conversations in mind when he suits up to fight Clark in another beautiful fight sequence. After Superman becomes vulnerable to attack, Irons decides to encourage him to break through his brainwashing. The appeal works and the duo immediately work together to capture Morgan Edge/Tal-Rho. Right before they catch him, the villain seems to enact another stage of his plan: Judging by Tal-Rho’s grinning face in jail, the next part of the scheme is going to be a doozy.
Final Thoughts: While this Superman & Lois episode didn’t make the best use of Diggle or Sam Lane, the rest of the character work was spot on. Henry Irons and The Lang family both shine in an emotional and high-stakes episode.
Andrew Tejada is an NYC native so there’s a 90 percent chance this was written on the subway. When he’s not consuming movies/tv, he’s pitching his Static Shock screenplay to anyone who’ll listen. Andrew can also be found talking about DC Animated movies weekly wherever you listen to things @ Yet Another DC Animated Podcast.
I felt Behrad’s attraction to the show was more about the guy being a stoner. His future iterations certainly nail that feeling since his future selves were about money, not chilling and doing drugs. And Beebo is going to be so jealous. Gus Gus looks like a pink cross between him and Baby Yoda. I fully expect him to monster out soon since he was part of Bishop’s shipment of dangerous aliens. I knew Rory was pregnant. Gary hinted at the danger of tentacles and women being the dominant partner of his species.
The actor who plays Bart has Barry’s physicality and boyishness down pat. You can see Barry every time he moves. This is part 1 of the season finale so those dang Godspeeds should have their clone butts kicked and the psycho August Heart put in his place. For once, I don’t think the resident villain will be talked into changing his ways and singing “Kumbaya” with Team Flash. Allegra is utterly useless as a member of the team. She’s always wandering off and disappearing, and she fails any time she does pay attention. No wonder her absence wasn’t noted. And Cisco is always a pleasure. He will be missed. I assume Kramer will show her meta talent when the Godspeeds attack her and Joe. Her psychology is definitely you always hate people who are what you hate about yourself.
After Diggle’s comment about facing that glowing green box in his appearance on FLASH, I thought he’d show up in full Green Lantern gear to help save the day on S&L. I was deeply disappointed, and I think his journey through the ARROWVERSE should have ended at FLASH, but Covid must have screwed the timing of this episode which should have been earlier. Sam is and will always be a soldier, and a cold-blooded one at that. His duty is to the world, not his daughter and son-in-law, so his choice didn’t surprise me. And can we have a moment to admire the sheer pervy creepiness of Morgan’s Kryptonian dad? Morgan’s brain really must be messed up to listen to something like that.
Legends: A surprisingly low-stakes episode, but I guess that’s appropriate for a focus on the stoner character. I kept expecting that the people bitten by Gus-Gus would become monsters or mind slaves or something.
Flash: I’d expected to find Bart/Impulse annoying, but the actor is really quite good. As for Jay, it was nice to see him back, but it would’ve also been nice if they’d let us know at any point between Crisis and now that Earth-3 had been merged into Earth-Prime along with Earth-1, Earth-38, Black Lightning’s unidentified Earth, and parts of Earth-2 such as Atlantis and Gorilla City. When I read that Jay would be in this story, I thought it meant that they’d finally be bringing the multiverse back into play after letting the characters believe it was gone.
Also, as someone pointed out on another forum, what does it mean to Earth-Prime’s history if there was an earlier-generation Flash before Barry — and he’s a doppelganger for Barry’s father? Or is this Jay meant to be a refugee from Earth-3 that fell through a wormhole, like the alternate Beth Kane in Batwoman last season? They shouldn’t gloss over these things. The franchise’s handling of how the post-Crisis continuity works has been very cursory and inconsistent.
S&L: Nice story, but Diggle’s cameo was awkwardly grafted in and barely advanced his story arc through these episodes. It’s unfortunate that the first time S&L really acknowledges being part of the Arrowverse, it’s in a way that carries so little weight. (And it would’ve been nice if the same episode had included some mention of Lois trying to get Supergirl’s help to find Superman.)
I’m wondering how Zod’s mind can be in the Eradicator when pre-Crisis continuity established that Zod survived in the Phantom Zone and fought Superman at some time in the past. Are the minds in the E just copies of the originals? If so, how was Zod’s recorded? Or maybe it’s not Val-Zod, but a different member of the House of Zod.
@1/MByerly: Diggle’s arc will culminate in his Supergirl appearance on September 21 (with David Ramsey also directing the episode). I doubt he’ll actually become a Green Lantern onscreen, since DC seems to be cagey about allowing the Arrowverse to use GL when they’re developing a GL series for HBO Max.
The absence of Supergirl, even as a mention, is conspicuous on S&L, and I can only assume that is intentional to avoid spoilers for Supergirl’s series finale. There has been speculation that Supergirl might die, or go the future to join the Legion of Superheroes, etc. Basically that they are giving the character a rather final send off, since Melissa Benoist has said she has no interest in coming back to the character.
I do hope some of the other characters on Supergirl survive to be used later in S&L, especially Jon Cryer’s Lex Luthor, who has been the high point of Supergirl’s recent seasons for me.
I do hope some of the other characters on Supergirl survive to be used later in S&L, especially Jon Cryer’s Lex Luthor, who has been the high point of Supergirl’s recent seasons for me.
Yeah, I’ve said it before, but Cryer’s a casting that, on paper, shouldn’t have worked. I thought the producers were out of their minds when he was first cast.
But it did and while Clancy Brown will always be my definitive Lex, Cryer’s my favorite live-action Lex in a long, long time.
I assume he’ll pop up on S&L eventually, but I’ m fine with them taking their time. There are other villains in the Super rogues gallery beyond Lex.
@3&4: Agreed. While Michael Rosenbaum was excellent as the young, unformed Lex on Smallville, Cryer is at the very least tied with Superboy‘s Sherman Howard as the finest live-action incarnation of Lex Luthor as a full-fledged supervillain. It would be a shame if we didn’t get to see more of him in conflict with Superman, his true nemesis.
It would also be interesting to see an Arrowverse interpretation of Brainiac. Supergirl‘s Brainiac-5 has dropped a number of references to his villainous ancestor, but we’ve never actually seen him. And bringing in the original Brainiac would open the door to bringing in Jesse Rath’s Brainy as a guest star.
@5,
Howard’s actually one of the more interesting ‘What Ifs’ of Superman: The Animated Series for me. I believe Bruce Timm’s said Howard was nearly offered the chance to reprise the role for animation (and he likely would’ve gotten it too had Clancy Brown not come in during the audition process).
So Howard playing Derek Powers on Batman Beyond was always an interesting glimpse of what he might’ve been like as the corrupt CEO Luthor.
Re: Brainiac, I assume he was off limits in earlier Seasons because Krypton was using him. Now the show’s been since cancelled, he could probably appear.
@6/Mr. Magic: Yes, it’s an interesting might-have-been for S:TAS, but Howard’s turn as Luthor in Superboy is very much worth checking out, especially in seasons 3-4. The first two seasons of the show ranged from cheesy to abominable, but in season 3 it got a new creative staff, did a semi-reboot, and became just about the best live-action DC series of the 20th century, and I say that as a big fan of The Flash 1990. And its richly written and acted portrayal of Luthor was one of the main reasons why.
I’d be happy to see Krypton‘s Blake Ritson reprise his role as Brainiac, though that would be a bit tricky to justify in multiversal terms, since Krypton‘s Brainiac was a Kryptonian leader (played by Ritson) transformed by Brainiac’s consciousness within him. But then, I guess it’s no more arbitrary than Earth-96’s Superman looking like Ray Palmer…
I’d be happy to see Krypton‘s Blake Ritson reprise his role as Brainiac, though that would be a bit tricky to justify in multiversal terms, since Krypton‘s Brainiac was a Kryptonian leader (played by Ritson) transformed by Brainiac’s consciousness within him. But then, I guess it’s no more arbitrary than Earth-96’s Superman looking like Ray Palmer…
Yeah, Corey Burton will always my favorite Braniac, but Ritson was great casting.
(Actually, Brainiac’s had nearly as many great actors as Lex now that I think about it: Burton, Jeffrey Combs, John Noble, etc.).
Eh, with the multiversal reboot nature of the “Crisis” adaption, they probably could easily justify the Krypton Brainaic having been folded into Earth-Prime (or at least having Ritson playing another version of Brainiac).
ChristopherLBennett@2:
So it’s carrying on the tradition established by the original comics back in the ’80s then?