Spoilers will jump tall buildings in a single bound.
When Kara says she has a hard time dealing with change in this week’s Supergirl, I can’t help but feel this is a message to the audience. The showrunners know that change is often seen as bad, but this is their way of letting us know that they know. The truth is change can be great as well. We all want to keep Kara in a cocoon of happiness with her cousin Kal-El and her mentor Cat Grant somehow, but every kid has to grow up. This show is actually growing up fast. Supergirl needs to fly from behind the shadow of her famous cousin, something that was not going to happen without him showing up. Cat leaving is more of a matter of Calista Flockhart leaving, but I have to applaud the way it was set up. Cat Grant leaves on her own terms and seeking to conquer other worlds (no, not literally).
Metallo and Cadmus were kind of blah as baddies. The idea of villainy still needs some maturing in this show. They have to find a way to start building a fitting foe, and one that can hurt Kara where she’s weaker – her heart. Ok, I know how that sounds and I’d hate to see Kara shattered by personal tragedy, so somehow I want and I dread this to happen at the same time. We don’t want to see Kara hurt but we do want Supergirl facing a real challenge.
The Flash this week also went with a villain of the week with Magenta (Joey King). It was an episode in which we were more enthralled by the return of Harrison Wells and daughter Jesse, who has now become a speedster. This draws jealous vibes from that other would-be speedster, Wally West, who yearns to gain powers of his own. I really felt empathy for Wally. I even felt empathy for Caitlin Snow. They’re both going to have their respective day real soon.
I don’t know how I feel about Julian Albert yet. Tom Felton does make him into an interesting character with several shades of grey. Is he going to turn out to be Dr. Alchemy or are we in for a twist? And speaking about twists, we’re finally seeing Barry and Iris trying to date, but is this forced? And if so, should they even keep trying? They have such a sibling chemistry (regardless of timeline) that it’s just awkward to see them try to be anything else.
It’s always been A Matter of Trust for Arrow. We’re getting baddies from WWE now, with the appearance of Cody Rhodes as fall-in-the-vat-become-metahuman baddie of the week. I’ve also yet to see any team chemistry between the team. And speaking about wrestling, why is Ragman joining a team as if he were a mid-level card wrestler? It’s obvious he could’ve taken down the entire baddie squad if allowed. I’m almost willing to forgive it all now that Curtis Holt becomes Mr. Terrific, jacket and all, but he needs more levels of badassery. Don’t get me wrong, he’s funny and witty enough to go against Felicity but I want him to shine more as a superhero on his own right.
Highs/Lows/FairPlay:
- We’ve had Supergirl finding her own path, but with Superman and Cat Grant leaving the show, she’s now flying without a net. This is terrifying and amazing at once. I found very appropriate that James Olsen takes over the reins of CatCo in place of Cat. The dynamic of the show changing is a good thing.
- Kara Danvers, reporter. Well, not quite. I actually think it was fitting for Snapper Carr to shun her at the start. You don’t decide to become a career, you friggin’ STUDY your brains out. Goddammit, there’s a different between thinking you can do it, which is a starting point and thinking you’re entitled to be one because reasons. I want to see Kara earn it, and please make that into her journey. I don’t want her to suddenly become a reporter next week. Journalism requires practice and effort. That implies she will have to fail at it a few times before becoming good.
- I kind of expected Superman to leave one piece of Kryptonite to J’onn, you know, just in case. I guess that’s only something that happened with that other caped hero that should not be named.
- Now let’s work on building an proper antagonist for the Girl of Steel.
- The Flash was a little weak on villains this week. However, I celebrate the return of both Harrison Wells and Jessie Quick.
- Poor Caitlin Snow was almost blamed by Harrison Wells, but this turned into a good time for Cait to shine and put him in his place. Which is the role of supportive parent.
- Harrison forgets his role of being a supportive parent almost as much as Oliver forgets how to be a trusting team leader. Or as much as any character in the Berlanti-verse decides to hide the truth from all their friends.
- Why are we making out Ragman to be less powerful than we know he is already? And did we really had to revisit the whole Felicity missile crisis? I guess we’ve been keeping that a while, but do we really have to go through drama and guilt…
- And… Nevermind, I had forgotten John Diggle’s self-inflicted guilt trip. So he’s going to go with getting framed? Isn’t that also allowing weapons to fall into evil hands? And now it turns out John is seeing visions. Guess now that the Suicide Squad is done, Arrow can use Floyd Lawton again.
- Arrow has way too many characters again. On top of that, we simply decide to leave out Tobias Church and Prometheus out of this one. Plus, there’s the mayor storyline, John Diggle’s episode and we still have Oliver reliving his back story, now joining the Bratva. It’s getting to be a lot to take in.
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 