Superhero Weekly: Supergirl’s Alex. The Flash Knows Who You Are. Arrow goes Underneath

Spoilers might be from the future! Ok, that one sucked. Let me go back in time and change it.

I’m seeing a trend in CW superhero shows. I know that as plots go, it’s pretty common, but I’m getting a bit tired of the whole hero-has-trust-issues-learns-to-trust-saves-the-day storyline. Because of that, I might not even discuss the main story anymore and just focus on what worked.

I really wanted Supergirl to use Alex to focus on, you know, Alex Danvers. And it does in a way, but it’s more centered in what she means to both Maggie and Kara. I wanted to see Alex escape on her own, using her skills and her determination. She does manage to boost the signal of her sub-dermal tracer. That was pretty badass, but it didn’t quite pay off.

In the meantime, Kara and Maggie take turns playing the Clarice Sterling role with a Hannibal Lecter-wannabe, Rick Malvern (David Hoflin). He not only used to be their classmate back in Midvale (the Smallville-like town where the Danvers sisters grew up), but he also has done something nobody else in the show has: he has deduced that Kara and Supergirl are the same person. Davin Hoflin’s performance of a deranged, vindictive and smart villain was particularly good. Yes, sorry. I know he’s the bad guy, but he had moments where his acting was shoulders above most of the regular cast.

Also, it’s hard not to empathize with Maggie and her views of Supergirl. The sledgehammer approach might not work in every scenario and this episode was an ideal example of that. Yes, Supergirl ends up having to rely on her humanity to get a clue as to where Alex might be. But I really wanted Alex to have managed to free herself by then.

The Flash goes for broke. There’s a great story in tonight’s episode that seems to be pushed all the way to the back. In the forefront, we seem to have Joe West’s love story with D.A. Cecile where he doesn’t want to mix her in up in the crazy world of superheroes. On the other hand, we meet Tracy Brand and shortly thereafter we have H.R. Wells dialling up the charm. I would’ve prefer both romances to be downplayed even further.

The story I wanted on the forefront is the clash between Killer Frost and The Flash. As it is, this also depends on Cisco as Vibe, since it seems the Flash has forgotten how to actually attack his former friend. But in between, we do get this amazing chase scene with Killer Frost forming an ice path that somehow propels her forward in style. I can’t blame this one on the show, a lot of past ice-welder superheroes and villains have used the same “traveling” method. You do leave a trail though. That and some new amazing villainess wardrobe just makes me think she should have been the big bad this season.

Oh, Savitar is a future-future-future version of Barry. Yes, I did call it and it was the most shocking version. It’s given away early by Frost when she mentions that he and Flash are very much alike (cringe at the obvious). It was indeed about time.

Arrow gives us a little alone time between Oliver and Felicity. To do that, an EMP blast hits the Arrow bunker and disables every electronic device. From there to explaining how Chase has boobytrapped ventilation ducts and elevator shafts… Well, consider it dramatic license standard use to allow the couple-who-are-not-a-couple to admit to some truths and reveal a few secrets.

The rest of the team are trying to get them out, obviously. Somehow it turns out the bunker has all this additional stuff that seems intent on poisoning you or killing you. After Oliver takes a nasty fall down an elevator shaft (he lands on a huge metal spike) he ends up losing blood for rest of the adventure. Add to that the fact that Felicity’s spinal chip has been fried by the EMP, and you have the universe trying to put these two suffering love birds together again. The show also rewrites a little history by showing us a night from eleven months ago in which Felicity and Oliver re-hooked up for one time only.

In the end, we’re left with more questions than answers. Felicity incites Oliver to find out who he is, and says she understands now about William. Meanwhile, William aka “Matthew” makes a new friend at his bus stop.

Highs/Lows/IcePath!!!

• Not enough Alex in Alex. It would have meant so much to make her escape on her own. That was not much to ask, was it?
• Maggie Sawyer has all the points when talking about Supergirl’s punch approach to crime fighting. Hence, this episode.
• Supergirl/Kara has to use her humanity to find out where Alex is from Rick’s father, Peter Thompson, played by Gregg Henry. He’s not given much to do in this episode. On the other hand, David Hoflin turns in a well crafter performance of above-average smart kidnapper Rick Malvern.
• Oh yeah, there was a secondary storyline with Lena Luthor and Rhea, now turned business woman. She wants to get L-Corp to build one of her transdimensional portals. I think the moment that happens there’s going to be an invasion. Lena discovers her (smart!), turns her down (smarter!!) and then reconsiders (wait, what??). Because, you know, reasons.
• Barry and Cisco get to be superheroes and control their powers. Caitlin turns into Killer Frost like a vampire takes over her body. Not fair, and I know the source material backs them up.
• However, if Killer Frost is really going all in, I think she would make a terrific A-list villain. I would have loved a season where she turns into the main big bad and her blast actually freezes. There were only a couple of instances in which her freeze blasts did some damage and more than a few where it just pushed the other person over a desk. It’s not Windy Frost, come on.
• That being said, the frozen path left behind as she travels was straight out of the comics. I liked the chase.
• Also, killer wardrobe! I’m glad she’s gone bad in style.
• I want to like Tracy Brand. She is a smart cookie and just a little quirky. She also gets major geek creds with the Sarah Connor reference.
• Who is Tracy Brand seeing when she sees HR Wells, his face or that holographic disguise he supposedly wears to prevent anybody from seeing evil Harrison Wells?
• Savitar is Barry from an even more distant future. At least now Savitar has a face. See, the logical progression here is for Barry to tell his friends to stop Savitar without telling him how. That way there’s no way he’d know.
• Is Killer Frost pulling her punches a little bit? Not as obviously as Cisco was, but is she? Was her intention to give Barry a clue by telling him they’re very much alike?
• Arrow is once more putting the idea of Olicity on the table. I’m not sure if they’re doing it to get some views or if this idea has legs, but if it does I really hope it’s a much more grown up plan.
• Trust. It seems everyone in the CW part of the DCU has trust issues. I’m starting to get bored of hearing the same thought on a different series, and keep in mind I’m already bored of hearing it in the same series several episodes in a row. If you are going to have an issue where Oliver doesn’t trust Felicity, then leave the issue open until resolution instead of “solving it” and then it happening again at the beginning of the next. You don’t have to make this a sitcom.
• Here’s my only enjoyable moment in Arrow this week: Curtis gets a super-ball courtesy of Argus and uses it to find Felicity and Oliver. When Oliver collapses of exhaustion and blood loss, the super-ball springs a hypodermic needle (cue Felicity with the Star Wars interrogation droid reference). Curtis chooses that moment to explain how a shot of adrenaline works and Felicity chooses to stab Oliver with the needle in mid-speech. Oliver is up!
• And after William is mentioned, cue the view to a kidnapping with Chase at the bus stop. Can’t say I wasn’t expecting it.

That will do for now.