We’re happy to offer our DC readers the chance to attend a free advance screening of Robin Hood, starring Taron Egerton and Jamie Foxx. Five winners will also receive a prize pack with exclusive merchandise from the film!
SYNOPSIS: Robin of Loxley (Taron Egerton) a war-hardened Crusader and his Moorish commander (Jamie Foxx) mount an audacious revolt against the corrupt English crown in a thrilling action-adventure packed with gritty battlefield exploits, mind-blowing fight choreography, and a timeless romance.
The screening takes place on Monday, November 19th at 7:00pm at Regal Gallery Place. Please note, these are ADMIT-ONE passes only!! If you’d like to enter, send an email to punchdrunktrav@gmail.com with your full name, mailing address, and “Robin Hood Giveaway” in the subject line. Winners will be selected on Saturday, November 17th and notified by email. Good luck!
The Jack Reacher films were always a weird fit for Tom Cruise. Created by author Lee Child, the bruising former military man is described as being 6’5″and barrel-chested with fists the size of dinner plates. Cruise is a lot of things, but no matter how well you shoot him from a low angle he’s never going to stop being the guy who made Nicole Kidman look like a skyscraper. The movies themselves were perfectly fine and did okay at the box office, but it seems their time on the big screen is done, and probably also Cruise’s time as Reacher.
Speaking with BBC Radio, Child agreed that Cruise wasn’t exactly the right fit to play Jack Reacher, although he got along with the actor quite well…
“Cruise, for all his talent, didn’t have that physicality. I really enjoyed working with Cruise. He’s a really, really nice guy. We had a lot of fun.”
He added, “But ultimately the readers are right. The size of Reacher is really, really important and it’s a big component of who he is. The idea is that when Reacher walks into a room, you’re all a little nervous just for that first minute. And Cruise, for all his talent, didn’t have that physicality.”
The Jack Reacher franchise will soldier on, but Child says it will be as a TV series rather than a movie, and he’s already looking past Cruise for his next lead…
“So what I’ve decided to do is – there won’t be any more movies with Tom Cruise. Instead we’re going to take it to Netflix or something like that. Long form streaming television, with a completely new actor.”
Plans for a Jack Reacher TV series have been confirmed by Business Insider, but they say Cruise is still very much involved. Doubtful he’ll be appearing in an on-screen role but perhaps as an exec-producer?
Another Mary Poppins Returns sneak peek? Really, Disney? How many times do we need to see Emily Blunt descend from the clouds with her umbrella or dance with penguins? Maybe the Mouse House is feeling a little bit uncomfortable after The Nutcracker and the Four Realms disappointing box office? Whatever the case, I know I’ve seen enough of this movie already and it doesn’t come out for another month. So enjoy the latest look, followed by the synopsis:
In Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns,” an all-new original musical and sequel, Mary Poppins is back to help the next generation of the Banks family find the joy and wonder missing in their lives following a personal loss. Emily Blunt stars as the practically-perfect nanny with unique magical skills who can turn any ordinary task into an unforgettable, fantastic adventure and Lin-Manuel Miranda plays her friend Jack, an optimistic street lamplighter who helps bring light—and life—to the streets of London.
Mary Poppins Returns is directed by Rob Marshall and co-stars Lin-Manuel Miranda, Emily Mortimer, Ben Whishaw, Pixie Davies, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Meryl Streep, Angela Lansbury, and Dick Van Dyke. The film opens December 19th.
Asghar Farhadi has won two Best Foreign Film Oscars with A Separation and The Salesman, while directing other acclaimed films such as About Elly and Fireworks Wednesday. Basically, he’s set an impossible standard for himself, and if we are to believe the lukewarm response to his latest, Everybody Knows, Farhadi has failed to measure up.
Again, it’s an impossible standard.
Everybody Knows pairs up real-life spouses Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem for a Spanish-language thriller about a woman who returns to her hometown in Buenos Aires for her sister’s wedding. There she reconnects with family, friends, and a former flame (Bardem), until the celebration is disrupted by the kidnapping of her daughter, which threatens to expose long-hidden secrets.
The response out of Cannes was definitely mixed, with the consensus being that Farhadi has made his first truly average movie. It played recently at Middleburg and, honestly, it didn’t even cross my mind to see. It will still receive an Oscar-qualifying run in L.A. beginning on November 30th, followed by a limited release on February 8th 2019.
The wondrous thing about magic, and J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, is that anything can and usually does happen. Rowling made us wait five whole years before she returned to the Potterverse for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and while we were just as spellbound as before by her fun, creature-filled spinoff it was clear that she had missed being away more than anyone. What had looked like an airy return to the franchise, led by Eddie Redmayne’s quirky magizoologist Newt Scamander, was a densely-plotted bit of fan service, with Rowling tugging on every loose thread that had ever seen ink in one of her books. Anything that could happen, did happen, and in the messy but often dazzling Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Rowling rains down so much lore we may need a semester at Hogwarts to keep up.
The sequel, which is still a much earlier prequel to the Potter years, picks up shortly after the controversial conclusion to the prior movie. Controversial in casting, mind you, not in plotting, as Johnny Depp was revealed to be the villain Grindelwald, when he had been played by Colin Farrell up to that point. Unsurprisingly, Grindelwald has escaped from his magical confines and let loose on a path of destruction, which he believes can only be completed with the help of the destructive orphan Credence (Ezra Miller), who is desperately in search of a family to call his own.
The rest doesn’t so much unfold as apparate like a traveling wizard. Rowling drops us right back into the life of the pacifist Newt Scamander, who is more concerned with caring for his many amazing creatures than he is marching off to war with Grindelwald. Why he’s chosen by a young Albus Dumbledore, played with impish charm by Jude Law, is anybody’s guess. Newt is quite against it; Dumbledore even admits his former student can’t take orders very well, and when pressed by his auror brother Theseus (Callum Turner) to join the fight, Newt flatly says “I don’t do sides.” So…uh, why do they need him again?
Newt’s also still holding a torch for Ministry of Magic investigator Tina Goldstein (Katherine Robertson), who along with no-mag buddy Jacob (Dan Fogler) join the hunt. They must not only find Credence to thwart whatever plan Grindelwald has, but they must also locate the wayward Queenie (Alison Sudol) who may have fallen in with a bad element. This is only the barest drop of the complicated potion Rowling has stirred up. Newt’s journey takes him from New York to Paris and London, with all sorts of fantastical places that exist between the folds of our reality. And yes, we even get to pay a visit to Hogwarts itself, which comes with its own share of Easter Eggs for eagle-eyed muggles. A magical traveling circus of oddities is a special treat, bringing a Tim Burton-esque sense of the macabre and twisted.
So much is going on that the story barely stops to allow us to catch a breath. With a story is complex as this with a couple dozen characters to follow (including some welcome surprises best left unspoiled) it can be exhausting just trying to keep up. And then Rowling and director David Yates will pull something jaw-dropping out of their hat, or out of Newt’s suitcase. Whether it’s the sea dragon Kelpie, those thieving but adorable Nifflers, the Chinese-born Zouwu, or Newt’s trusty bowtruckle pet Pickett, the film lives up to the franchise’s moniker.
That said, the human characters could all use a little more attention. There are just too many to follow, and some I haven’t mentioned are especially important, or we know they will become important. Rowling, in her second outing as screenwriter, doesn’t bother holding anybody’s hand. Either you’re up on your Wizarding mythology or you’re not, and that includes reading every page of every book she’s written in that universe. I found myself anxiously waiting to learn every new character’s last name, because names have real value in the Wizarding World. Rowling has also matured her writing to match her audience, who are no longer children fascinated by the idea of a Quidditch match. This is a very dark, violent movie with shocking twists and startling deaths. I think it’s fair to call this the Empire Strikes Back of the series but considering her five-movie plan perhaps that’s a poor comparison. Adding to the mature theme is a tease of the past relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, one that possibly crossed from friendship into something romantic. How far Rowling plans to go with that will be one of the most intriguing questions going into future films. That Rowling explicitly invokes the Holocaust in one scene shows that she is willing to step into more adult territory and draw some stark parallels.
While undoubtedly chaotic, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald creates a strange, wonderful world overstuffed with the exacting details we’ve come to love and expect from Rowling. She continues to weave a captivating spell that shows few signs of fading.
Backtrace. Even the bland title smacks of a forgettable straight-to-VOD actioner with has-been or never-was stars. And while the film may indeed end up being a momentary blip in our cinematic memory the one thing we can’t say is that it has a washed-up star, because Sylvester Stallone is anything but done.
Stallone leads the cast of Backtrace which…okay, maybe his co-stars Matthew Modine and Ryan Guzman fit the has-been/never-was model. This one is pretty wild in theory; with Modine playing a man who suffers a traumatic brain injury after a heist gone south, ending up with amnesia. After being held in a psychiatric ward for seven years, he breaks out of prison and is injected with a serum that makes him relive the life he’s forgotten. He’ll need to confront the past and retrieve the stolen money all while being chased by a dogged detective played by Stallone. Whoa. Prison breaks, mysterious formulas, amnesia, lost money, hard-nosed cops, a-hole FBI agents; it’s a cocktail of bad action movie tropes.
This might end up being really lame but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t have my interest. Also starring Meadow Williams, Christopher McDonald, and Colin Egglesfield, Backtrace hits theaters and VOD (let’s be honest, if you see this it’ll be at home) on December 14th.
The Birds of Prey are ready to soar now that they’ve found their final member. The last role to be cast was that of Cassandra Cain, who in the DC Comics eventually takes the mantle of Batgirl. That role has now gone to Ella Jay Basco, known for her work on episodes of Veep, Superior Donuts, and Grey’s Anatomy.
This will obviously be the biggest role of the young actress’s career. Basco joins Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary, Rosie Perez as Detective Renee Montoya, and Ewan McGregor as the Bat-villain Black Mask.
It’s not expected that Cain will become Batgirl in this film, or any film in the DCEU, and she will likely take on a different alias. Cain was the daughter of world-renowned assassins David Cain and Lady Shiva, trained by her father in nothing but the ways of violence. As such she is completely mute, with her only form of communication her ability to “read” people. There’s already a separate Batgirl movie in the works that will follow the O.G. Batgirl, Barbara Gordon.
Directed by Cathy Yan, Birds of Prey opens February 7th 2020. [Variety]
It’s unclear what the future holds for Ridley Scott’s Alien franchise. How Disney feels about it after the Fox merger goes through is just part of the issue; there’s also the middling box office and lukewarm critical reviews. Scott returned to the sci-fi classic with 2012’s Prometheus, which received mixed reviews but earned over $400M, which ain’t bad. With last year’s Alien: Covenant, Scott tried to give fans a suspenseful horror movie with more Xenomorphs and the box office suffered.
As it stands right now we have no idea if the third movie, reportedly titled Alien: Awakening, will ever happen even though Scott has a couple of sequels already in mind. If it does, the story written by Alien: Covenant‘s John Logan would once again focus on Michael Fassbender’s murderous android, David, and possibly go back to the planet originally seen in 1979’s Alien.
Here’s how Empire describes it: “Logan’s script would have seen the return of Prometheus’ Engineers, with that species’ survivors coming after the genocidal David. Setting-wise, Scott said it was obvious ‘We’re gonna actually go to the planet’. by which we assume he means LV-426.”
If you recall, the Engineers were expected to play an even bigger role following Prometheus, but Scott’s plans for the franchise have been in a constant state of flux. I think it’s a safe bet that whatever idea there was for a third movie will change if/when it gets a green light.
You wouldn’t naturally think of Tim Burton as a key cog in Disney’s unprecedented dominance in recent years, but he absolutely is. His 2010 film Alice in Wonderland earned over $1B and set Disney on a tear of successful live-action remakes. And now it has come full circle with Burton’s remake of 1941 animated classic Dumbo, which has just unveiled a soaring new trailer featuring everyone’s favorite big-eared elephant.
Whereas the broken fantasy realm of Alice in Wonderland proved a suitable fit for Burton’s macabre style, the circus atmosphere of Dumbo also appears to be up his alley. Loosely inspired by the 1941 film, the latest version of Dumbo stars Colin Farrell as a former circus star who, along with his two kids (Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins), is hired by struggling circus owner Max Medici (Danny DeVito) to care for a newborn baby elephant with giant floppy ears. Michael Keaton plays an evil entrepreneur who seeks to exploit Dumbo’s high-flying prowess. Eva Green is the trapeze artist who Dumbo takes to the skies alongside.
Burton’s mainstream studio efforts don’t typically hold much of an appeal for me, but this is a beautiful movie and I dig it any time he gets to work with Eva Green, as he’s done previously on Dark Shadows and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
Last week in the Arrowverse, our heroes had a few setbacks. On Supergirl, the Sons of Liberty stepped up their attacks on aliens by using them against each other. Forcing a telepath to force others to attack people, they were intent on changing public perception against them. They even made Guardian appear to be a fighter for human rights. Lucky for everyone, Supergirl was able to get her powers back and save the day. On Arrow, Oliver made his way to “Level 2” where was forced to endure psychological torture under the guise of “reprogramming” to purge the violent tendencies. Towards the end, he realized he needs to “break the cycle” and finally responded to being “Inmate 4587.” On Legends of Tomorrow, the Legends tracked down what they thought was a leprechaun in punk-era London. Turns out it was instead, a shapeshifter who really wasn’t that bad, who simply wanted to “rage against the machine” and even made Ray shed his squeaky-clean image. The shapeshifter Charlie managed to take the image for Amaya before Constantine used a spell to stop her from changing her appearance, and the Legends felt sympathy for her as she really wasn’t a “monster” and decided not to send her back to hell. We had a bye week for The Flash and Black Lightning on the account of the 2018 Midterms, which were (and still are) just as exciting as either of those shows could have been, but they return this week.
So how did the Arrowverse go this week?
Supergirl: “Parasite Lost”
The episode begins with Lena and James attending a media brunch party. All seems well at first, but James is noticing that many in the media are turning toward a more conservative path. A few of his colleagues who he thought of as centrist are now drinking the Kool-Aid of Agent Liberty. Speaking of Agent Liberty, Ben Lockwood was also at the brunch as he runs his own blog that is attracting followers, and he and James exchange words about Guardian being a human’s only champion, something James is not too happy about.
Agent Jensen, who is now working full on with the Sons of Liberty, was subjected to an alien parasite that allows him to literally suck the life out of whomever he touches. However, when he does it to an alien, he then is able to have their powers as well. Agent Liberty decides that he is the perfect weapon to take the fight to aliens in National City. Jensen proceeds to go on an absorption/killing spree.
Kara and Nia decide that one way to help with hearts and minds is to do profiles on aliens in the city to show the public that they aren’t as bad as the Sons of Liberty are making them be. One person that they profile is Amadei. Amadei has the power to touch aliens and heal them, instead of killing them as Jansen does. Even though he’s a miracle worker for aliens, his abilities are unable to work on humans. One of his life goals is to learn how to do it so that he can heal humans as well as aliens. Kara finds out that even though her article was helpful, the comments (NEVER read the comments) show that humans are still just as angry with aliens as before. To make matters worse, Jensen read the article and attacked Amadei, stealing his amulet which he needs for survival.
J’onn, who is still toeing the line for helping versus fighting, reads Amadei’s mind and learns of a young woman who was in his thoughts when he was attacked. Thinking the young woman was the attacker, he and Kara track the young woman down. The later find out that the young woman was, in fact, Amadei’s daughter Elizabeth. Elizabeth doesn’t know why she was on his mind as she has never met her father and considers him to be a deadbeat father. Later on, we discover that her heartbroken mother kept them apart after Amadei broke up with her. This is partially what fuels Amadei to want to be able to heal humans, as he broke his lover’s heart long ago.
Jensen, later on, attacks aliens rallying for Amadei’s health, which leads the DEO to be able to track him down. He’s so powerful that not even Kara can hurt him as his touch can hurt her as well. They seal the area off with a shield/dome and plan on using nuclear radiation to overload his absorption powers. However, this would kill whatever humans and aliens are around. Defying her superior’s orders, Alex pleads with the former soldier to appeal to his better instincts of protection and saving lives to give up peacefully. Jensen decides to relinquish the Amadei’s amulet, which ends up killing him. So, he was a good guy after all.
James realizes that the best way to beat Agent Liberty is not to fight them, but instead, join them. After all, the Sons of Liberty are championing Guardian as one of them, so he decides that he will infiltrate them to take them down from within. Hopefully, he doesn’t get radicalized in the process.
Arrow: “The Demon”
This week, Oliver continues his descent into the hell that is “Level 2” of the prison. His new guard isn’t as nice as the previous ones are and immediately asserts his dominance. Calling him by his prison number is one dehumanizing thing he does. The other is to put a new bracelet on him, which it turns out, has the ability to deliver shock treatment to the inmates as Oliver sees when he tries to confront an inmate who he scuffled with when they were in Level 1.
Later on, in his cell asleep, Oliver is attacked by an unknown assailant. After the two exchange in a brief fight, Oliver discovers it’s none other than Talia Al Ghul, who it turns out, survived their confrontation at Lian Yu and is now in the same prison that she is. While we were probably expecting someone else to be “the demon,” it turns out it was the literal demon from the League of Assassins. While they were enemies when they last saw each other, prison makes strange bedfellows, and she needs his help escaping.
The rest of Team Arrow is off on their own adventures. Diggle wants to recruit Curtis to go undercover for an ARGUS mission. A businessman named Malcolm Byrd is trying to purchase chemicals that would be used for terrorism reasons, and Curtis fits a profile that could get them in to stop him. Curtis, ever the techie who doesn’t want any field work, at first wants no part of it. However, his 50 million PhDs would be an asset when dealing with chemicals as well as a bad guy who speaks French (which Curtis does as well). After the first meeting goes well, a second meeting is required. Diggle has to push the hesitant Curtis in the right direction. Curtis’ hesitance is because he’s done with the field work part of his life. Everything associated with Mr. Terrific has led to bad things for him. Diggle politely reminds him that Mr. Terrific is not a vigilante persona though. Curtis is a super smart, super athletic ultimate ninja warrior, whether he wears a costume or not. Curtis proceeds to go with the second meetings, and it turns out, he didn’t need any backup as he was able to take down the terrorist and all his goons single-handedly.
Felicity goes to visit Oliver when he discovers that he no longer can accept visitors. Lucky for her, Stanley happens to be awaiting his own visitor and tells her that Oliver has been moved to Level 2 and it’s really bad. He also lets her in on the fact that Oliver is changing in prison and has beaten guards and inmates to survive. Felicity works with Dinah and Earth-2 Laurel Lance (who is slowly becoming a good guy) to learn more about Level 2. They learn about the Level 2 shrink Dr. Parker and it turns out, he’s not really a good guy. All his experimentations have ended up with his patients being abused. They realize that Dr. Parker will eventually erase Oliver’s memories under the guise of helping them, and they need to expose him to help save Oliver.
Oliver meets up with Talia and agrees to help her escape. His one condition is that she works with him to expose Dr. Parker and help save the inmates from his abuse. To do that, they will need to break into his lab. Finding a way to remove their bracelets, they get themselves caught where they beat Dr. Parker and the guards. They look at his computer and download his files. Oliver knows he can’t be a fugitive, so he decides he will create a distraction for Talia to escape. Oliver makes Talia promise to get the flash drive to Felicity so that they can take Dr. Parker down. While she does that, she does one better and kills Dr. Parker after he is fired and Level 2 is shut down. Oliver and the rest of the Level 2 inmates are transferred back to Level 1.
Felicity and the gang realize that they can now use the info obtained from Talia to appeal Oliver’s conviction!
Legends of Tomorrow: “Wet Hot American Bummer”
The episode begins with two counselors camping out by a lake for a make-out session. Soon enough, a monster comes out of the lake and attacks the horny couple. If this sounds like every 80’s and 90s horror movie, it’s because it is. Turns out Sara and Ava are watching a horror movie based on the disappearance of teens during the 90s as a summer camp. Sara quickly realizes that something isn’t right about this. Soon enough, she gets a call from Gideon saying that she discovered the newest monster-related anachronism. The Legends have to go to a 1995 summer camp to chase down another monster.
The Legends arrive at the camp posing as camp counselors. Ray of course, with his geeky self, is more than happy. Constantine is not too thrilled as he once again is stopped from smoking a cigarette every time he tries to light up. Ava tags along with Sara as well will Mick and Zari are stuck babysitting Charlie, who is still in the form of Amaya.
Each of the Legends has their own way of trying to find out what’s going on at the camp, which doesn’t seem to really work. Sara tries bonding with the young girls under her charge, which is interrupted by Ava’s no-nonsense drill sergeant way of doing things. Constantine decides to hypnotize the boys under his and Ray’s care, which works, but teenage boys are clueless and don’t know anything. Unfortunately, two teens are kidnapped at night when they try to have their own make-out session, so the clock’s ticking on saving them and the others that are missing. To make matters worse, the director of the camp doesn’t seem to care and is chopping it up on them being horny teenagers, and not a possible victim of a monster.
On the Wave Rider, Charlie is sick of being in their prison. She fakes being unconscious and then gets the drop on Zari, freeing herself. She almost manages to escape the Wave Rider but gets caught by Mick and sent back into her cell. However, she proceeds to work on Mick, knowing he’s probably spent more time being imprisoned than being a jailer. The two bonds on them both being outlaws as a result of this. Mick starts having a soft spot for her and eventually lets her out so that she can have a “makeover.” To show appreciation for Mick doing this, Charlie tells them about the monster that they are hunting.
Ava’s approach to the children is a result of her being a clone who really never had a childhood and all she knows is being an agent of the Time Bureau. It hits home for her when the kids pull a prank on her making her think the monster is a “Swamp Thing” (Constantine even references the real Swamp Thing from DC comics), which makes her fall in the lake to the kids’ laughter. Constantine then decides to help Ava out by casting a spell that will make ger and Sara turn into teenagers. In the meantime, Constantine and Ray manage to discover where the missing kids are being held.
Charlie manages to tell Zari and Mick that the monster is some sort of vampire that is sucking the life out of the missing teens. At first, they think it’s the old woman who’s the director. Charlie then tells them that the monster that she remembers from hell was in the form of a handsome man and not an old woman, leading them to realize it’s the camp counselor they met when they first arrived. Teen Sara and Ava then face him down and manage to fight him off for a little bit. Constantine is then able to cast a spell that revers the life force from the monster back to the kids, enough for Teen Sara and Ava to kill it. One kid is too sick to help, so Constantine gives the young man some of his own life force to help him, to his own detriment. John’s spell ears off on Sara and Ava and they revert back to their old selves and Ava got a chance to have some sort of a childhood. They realize that they will need some help to save Constantine. They need someone else with magic powers, so they have to vine Nora Darhk, who’s working at a renaissance fair.
The Flash: “All Doll’d Up”
The episode begins with Barry and Iris still patiently trying to get a hold of Nora. She’s still upset with her mother for surgically implanting a power suppressor on her in the future (her past) when she was young and being a cold mother. Last week Nora revealed to Iris what she does to her in the future and even when she tells her father, Barry sides with future Iris saying that she probably had a good reason to do it. Needless to say, this did not go over well with Nora, who then proceeded to move out and live with Joe and Cecile. Since then, she’s been missing in action and not wanting to really have any contact with her parents. However, Central City still needs its heroes, so Barry is out solving a crime. Nora shows up, but disconnects her radio so she can’t coordinate with Iris and Barry. While she manages to stop the bad guys, she almost gets innocent people hurt in the process, something Barry gives that disappointed parent looks that makes kids grow small. After a small argument back at STAR Labs, Barry tells Nora to focus on her mother as she currently is, and not how she will become in the future (duh).
Meanwhile, a young couple is getting ready for their big day tomorrow. The groom shows the bride a family heirloom that he will give to her tomorrow on their wedding day, a pricey necklace. After the jewel is locked in a box, a new metahuman, who can contortion himself in any way he pleases manages to sneak in and steal the necklace, and we now have out metahuman of the week, Rag Doll.
Caitlin, Cisco, Ralph, and Sherloque are relegated to the B-Team as they continue to investigate the mystery of Caitlin’s missing father, who they now know is not dead. Caitlin’s father has left a series of clues on how to find him, something private eyes Ralph and Sherloque are all too happy to try to solve. However, they get stuck and don’t know where to investigate next. Lucky for them, they happen to have a certain Team Flash member who has the ability to vibe people and objects and he is able to determine that the next clue is at Hudson University, where her father worked at some time with Martin Stein. Although Cisco is able to use his powers, his encounter with Cicada has had an unforeseen effect on him and now just simply using his powers is hurting him, and his powers are not at 100%, something he keeps a secret.
Nora is still in a rut and complains about her parents to Cecile. While Cecile is not Barry and Iris’ mother, she’s still a proud member of the West family and doesn’t exactly let Nora off the hook in bad mouthing her parents. She forces Nora to build a baby crib for her and in exchange, she will tell her something about her parents that she won’t learn in the Flash Museum in the future. Cecile uses parent logic to trick Nora in hearing about Barry’s heroism as a child and just when Nora is all proud of her father helping some poor kid with no friends, she flips the switch and tells her it was how Iris acted towards a young Barry, giving Nora a different perspective of her mother who she just sees as a mean and cold woman in the future.
Rag Doll is continuing his crimes and this time destroys a real estate architect’s building. Barry gets the man out before the building falls, but Barry then sees that Rag Doll has the ability to contortion himself if any position, meaning he is a victim of the satellite debris from The Enlightening. Barry uses his forensic skills to learn Rag Doll’s true identity, where he learns that he was Peter Merkel the son of a wealthy socialite who seemingly ignored him as a child. Iris and Barry go to the mother’s house for more information (having a nice date night in the process) and after talking with the mother, Iris starts to question her own parenting abilities as she sees how Nora becomes as a result of her. Barry tells Iris that she probably was a great mother and to stop being so hard on herself. Just then, Rag Doll attacks and kidnaps Barry.
Iris learns that Barry has been taken hostage by Rag Doll and recruits Team Flash into action. Cisco can’t breach them in to save as his powers have weakened and Sherloque broke the potable breacher, so instead Ralph uses his elongated man powers to basically Spider-Man himself across town with Iris on his back to go and save Barry. Speaking of Rag Doll, it was very surprising that he wasn’t CGI when doing all his crazy contortions. It was in fact actor Troy “Twisty” James and not CGI, which did everything. Only a few moments in the episode were done with computers and the rest was him being able to bend his body in metahuman fashion in real life. Rag Doll threatens to throw Barry off a roof (with metahuman cuffs on) when Iris and Ralph arrive. He manages to push Barry off the roof and then Iris does the unthinkable, she jumps off the roof to go and save her husband. While the two fall, she manages to use the keys to the metahuman cuffs to give Barry his powers back, which allows him to use his powers so they land safely. Nora arrives just in time to see her mother risk her life to save Barry, which makes her have even more appreciation for her. Ralph manages to capture Rag Doll as well. Afterward, Nora and Iris finally reconcile and start to develop a relationship with each other in this timeline as they make amends.
Black Lightning: “The Book of Blood: Chapter One: Requiem”
The episode begins with Gambi having a pretty normal day in Freeland. He’s socializing with vendors as he’s going shopping in town. After buying some fruit and he is attacked while driving back to his shop by men with machine guns. His car has a shield, so it seems like he’s ok. However, soon enough, the shield goes down and he then gets run off the road. When the car crashes and then catches fire until it finally explodes. Is Gambi dead?!?
Pretty much the entire episode is everyone from the Pierce family dealing with Gambi’s supposed death. For the time being, we’re gonna assume that Gambi isn’t dead because like Jefferson said, he’s a trained operative who has contingency plans for his contingency plans. He most likely wouldn’t get caught slipping and end up dead so easily. As a result, Jefferson spends the episode in denial about his death. He tells his Anissa not to worry until they can confirm a body.
Anissa is continuing to cozy with the reverend who is fighting on behalf of the Green Light kids held in ASA captivity. After the Tobias tried to bomb the clinic, many of the employees there quit. Anissa, wanting to still help even when she’s not Thunder, applies to work there as a means of still trying to help out. She tries to help a man and his pregnant girlfriend, but it’s clear that there’s a problem with her pregnancy as evidenced by the boyfriend’s nervousness. Anissa also has to cope with Gambi’s loss in another way, she needs comfort. She goes to Grace’s apartment where she first talks about Gambi’s death with her and she realizes that if she had one day left, she would want to spend it with Grace. The two proceed to spend the night and sleep together. The next morning, Grace says that it’s a mistake and thinks that Anissa is using her as a crutch for when she feels vulnerable, and that’s not necessarily a great way for a relationship to exist. Anissa assures her that her feelings are genuine, but time will tell if that’s really the case. Grace leaves the room frustrated when spots start showing up all over her skin. She takes some sort of medication, and then they disappear. Is Grace a Green Light metahuman as well?
Jennifer is stuck still being homeschooled because she is unable to control her powers. When she finds out about Gambi, she takes it pretty hard and breaks down crying. It’s surprising that she didn’t activate her powers since she has little control over them. Perhaps, she’s beginning to be able to control her abilities. Khalil is still trying to connect with her and has been sending her text messages on her phone and instant messages on her laptop. She’s done a good job of ignoring him, but when he shows up, she can’t help but have a quick conversation with him. He seems to still care for her, even though he’s beholden to Tobias.
In all of this, Tobias has his own plans. He kidnaps a city councilman and proceeds to blackmail him. He informs the councilman that thanks to having ASA agent Proctor’s famed briefcase which reveals that the councilman was taking money from the ASA. If Tobias’ leaked that information, it would damage the councilman’s career, so now he’s in Tobias’ pocket. Later on, the politician announces via a press conference that an anonymous donor has paid to have the clinic relocated to a safer part of town, meaning that Tobias has some nefarious plans for the clinic.
Although he says that everything is OK, Jefferson is having trouble with the idea that Gambi’s dead. He heads to a nearby bar and throws a few drinks back with Two Bits. He, later on, sees a woman being harassed by a patron and springs into action. His intoxication, as well as his frustration with Gambi, possibly being dead causes his to go overboard as he proceeds to beat the crap out of the guy. Two Bits and Henderson have to pull him off the guy.
Jennifer has thrown herself into her work at the ASA in researching the Green Light kids held in suspended animation. Forced to partner with the brilliant yet psychotic Dr. Jace, a possible cure is devised. At first, the cure has a 50% success rate, but Dr. Jace tells her she came up with a way to ensure that there’s a 100% success rate. That was proven to be a lie because as soon as she administers the cure, many of the kids die. Furious, Lynn punches Dr. Jace and has her escorted back to her prison cell.
Both Anissa and Jefferson go to Gambi’s store just to feel connected to him. Jefferson finally lets himself go and proceeds to cry about his father figure’s death. Anissa then provides her father with comfort. She then decides that she also needs to deal with it and goes for a drive to South Freeland. While on the road she gets stopped by the local sheriff. The sheriff says he was stopping her because she was “suspicious” and it seems to be another case of driving while black. However, when she sees something crawling under the sheriff’s skin, she gets back in her car and speeds away. What’s going on in South Freeland?
