Spoilers may be closing in.
It was a week without Supergirl, with Barry going after Wally in The Flash and Oliver unmasking his enemy in Arrow.
The Flash is still trying to work and flesh out its main villain. If Zoom was a combination of evil human and CGI monster, Savitar is double the CGI and no human to speak for yet. There might be more to say about that in the future. However, the main antagonist of sorts this time is not Savitar but the mystical Speed Force itself. The very bluntly named Into The Speed Force is another moral dilemma for Barry as he must use his wits to battle the impersonation of Eddie Thawne, Ronnie Raymond and Leonard Snart in an almost Scrooge-like lesson about how much friends have sacrificed their lives for his ideal of heroism. He also must outrun a Time Wraith that might have been Zoom at some point.
The lesson he learns after his three ghosts, is that he has to save Iris himself. He figures this out because, reasons. Meaning, I’m not sure why is that the logical conclusion. To make things more dramatic (yeah, really) he gets help from Jay Garrett, the Golden Age Flash, who also takes the place of Wally. This makes sense because… it doesn’t. If the lesson for Barry was to stop letting his friends sacrifice themselves for him, it’s undone already when he leaves Jay behind in Wally’s place!
Yes, we must talk about Jesse Quick, but we’re out of time. More in the Highs and Lows.
Meanwhile in Arrow, Checkmate brings us what all the previews already spoiled. Adrian Chase is Prometheus. Actually his name is false, and we’ve been all duped by thinking Adrian Chase was Vigilante. Secrets are spoiled as Oliver finds Talia in the present and learns she is the daughter of Ra’s Al Ghul. I really hope this means Nyssa is coming back somehow. The other anti-climatic bomb is that she trained Prometheus, aka Adrian Chase.
But as awkward as that reveal is, the episode does begin to take a dark twisted turn as Adrian Chase remains alongside the mayor and in his position as District Attorney, forcing Oliver to compromise the Green Arrow further and further. It’s a strange game of manipulation where Susan Williams’ life hangs on the line. It has its loopholes, but I did like the overall mind game effect. I have to give kudos to Josh Segarra, the actor behind Adrian/Prometheus for switching into a manipulative sociopathic persona. It turned Prometheus from a mask-wearing bore to more colourful and dangerous antagonist.
I may not have cared for the Bratva flashbacks, but I still find potential in Felicity’s side story with Helix. She’s drawn deeper and deeper in debt with them, and with the finale ending in another hostage situation, she’s not able to walk away since she knows they’re her best chance.
Highs/Lows/Double-cross:
- The Flash needs a happy episode pronto. Where is that musical episode? Does it really take that long to make?
- Jesse Quick! Holy crap. HR Wells said literally the most sexist, chauvinistic and idiotic thing imaginable. He said, to Jesse’s face, to wait until… The real Flash gets here. If there has ever been a character to deserve getting punched, it was him. I do not believe he should so easily being forgiven for it.
- HR Wells also gets to discover a weakness in Savitar’s armour – literally the fact he uses an armour, which means he’s a man underneath.
- I also think this line from Jesse should’ve been given more gravitas: In my earth, I am the real Flash! At least she also got to be the first Flash to hurt Savitar, and I know why she must return to Earth-3, but still… She’s out of the picture already? Doesn’t seem fair.
- The extra drama that nobody asked for was Barry deciding to move out on Iris because… I guess this way he can be far away in case she’s in danger… Ok, wait that doesn’t make sense. This is another case of let’s create drama for no reason.
- John Wesley Shipp appearing as the Golden Age Flash again. That’s a high. Just to sacrifice himself? That is a low as low as you can get. Are we really leaving him there?
- But Arrow really shined with Checkmate. When Oliver loses it in the Arrow cave, I almost expected him to go rogue from everyone and turn into solo vigilantism again. I half wanted that, to be honest.
- Watching Felicity is like watching an addict descend deeper and deeper into her vice. It’s not amusing, but it makes for an interesting tale. The added twist has to be that dark ending with Oliver captive (I said there would be spoilers, people) and Felicity realizing she will do anything Helix tells her to find him again.
- Josh Segarra aka Adrian Chase was an interesting, straight-arrow character. Now he’s playing a sociopath who enjoys what he does and believes he’s here to help Oliver realize who he is. After being someone Oliver can trust, Adrian has revealed himself as Prometheus. More importantly, Prometheus has become a much more interesting enemy by being revealed as Adrian.
- I won’t mention my theory about Susan Williams being Vigilante this time. Buuut honestly, it’s about the one thing you could do to make Susan interesting again. Otherwise we’re just doing damsel in distress. Trope as old as time…
- For now the real enemy is Adrian Chase. However, I think the bigger enemy that was revealed was Talia Al Ghul, sending Adrian Chase to make Oliver suffer for the death of her father. Does that mean Talia will eventually be the bigger bad for Team Arrow to defeat? Does someone have Nyssa on speed dial?
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 