Last week in the Arrowverse, we focused on the possible damage that religion can play, got to meet a new member of Team Flash, got the best homage to Stephen Spielberg’s E.T., and met a possible new big bad guy for Team Arrow to deal with.
Supergirl was very interesting. Most of the episode focused on the idea that Kara was a messianic figure for many people that she had saved since becoming Supergirl. A new church was created, thanks to hopeless people finding hope in her heroics, as well as learning about the Kryptonian religion because of a probe that detailed her planet’s history. Kara wasn’t comfortable with the idea of being a Jesus-like character and spent most of the episode to try to dissuade her faithful followers, especially as she was going through her own dark place.
The Flash introduced a new metahuman, thanks to the Thinker’s planning. This time, the new metahuman wasn’t a bad guy. In fact, Ralph Dibny, AKA Plastic Man, was invited to become a possible new member of Team Flash in the aftermath. Although Ralph previously had a sketchy history with Barry, they made amends and he was a hero towards the end. Ralph also revealed to Barry that there’s a man behind the curtain orchestrating the current events, and they need to figure out who this bad guy is.
Legends of Tomorrow had the Legends save a young Ray, who befriended a young baby alien Dominator. The Dominator wasn’t what could have killed our fellow hero, but the Men In Black who wanted the alien for their own nefarious purposes. As Legends of Tomorrow is the most tongue-in-cheek shows in the Arrowverse, they did an outstanding job playing homage to E.T., as young Ray fulfilled the role of Elliot from the classic sci-fi movie in last week’s “Phone Home” episode.
Arrow continued with Diggle assuming the hood and leading the team. It’s surprising that they are sticking with this arc for so long. It’s clear that Oliver is missing his former nightlife as he consistently plays the back burner to all Team Arrow activities so that he can focus on being a politician and a dad. He did get a chance to play the guy in the chair and helped Team Arrow as “Overwatch” last week when they went on a mission to help save the Internet. Last week finally showed us who Helix hacker mastermind Cayden James was (guest starring Michael Emmerson). He’s sure to be a big baddie this season as you don’t cast someone a big as Emmerson for one episode. Meanwhile, Oliver has to go on his own side mission as Slade Wilson needs his help rescuing his lost son.
This week in the Arrowverse, some episodes were a lot of fun, some were very heavy. So how did the Arrowverse go this week?
Supergirl: “Damage”
While this week on Supergirl did not really touch any of the religious things from last week, this week’s episode “Damage” was equally impressive as it also dealt with very adult issues. The idea of making a devastating choice in a relationship for your own life goals, as well as the idea of poisoning children, are not to be taken lightly. They most certainly not what we would normally get from the more family-friendly episodes that have been in the Arrowverse, and especially on Supergirl.
The A story of this week’s episode focused on the fact that children were suffering from lead poisoning in National City. The only evidence that is pointing towards a cause is the fact that Lena Luthor created a weaponized “lead bomb” to deal with the Daximites in last week’s season finale to deal with the alien threat. The weapon was shown to be non-fatal towards humans, but would kill the alien invaders if they remained on earth. However, when children started showing up sick from lead poisoning, all fingers were pointed towards Lena.
Lena’s corporate rival Morgan Edge was more than happy to place blame on Lena and tie her to her less than savory family. Holding press conferences in her own hospital filled with sick children is a political low blow, and it works in his favor as Luthor becomes public enemy number one. Even when she tries to get ahead of the damage and holding a press conference, a concerned parent tries to kill her by shooting at her from the crowd. This forces Lena to think that she is responsible and she takes a leave of absence from her business activities and drowns herself in a bottle of wine.
Kara and Samantha aren’t too sure that this is her fault. Like the good friends they are, they decide to do some investigating on their own. Through their investigation, it’s revealed that it’s Morgan Edge who willingly poisoned children as a means to get back at his political rival. If we didn’t know that Morgan was the big bad guy before, he sure is now. This makes him an interesting villain, as he has no superpowers, just political and economic power, which is more than enough to take on his rivals. Even when he is stopped, he has a backup plan and blames one of his lackeys so he can live to fight another day.
The B story focused on Alex and Maggie are continuing to deal with their impasse. Alex and Maggie deeply love each other and want to get married, however, they have different life goals. Alex wants to one day have children, and that’s something Maggie has no interest in doing at all. Neither wants to budge from where they are, so how does this relationship move forward?
The two decide that they need to no longer be together. It’s heartbreaking for the two of them as they are genuinely in love with each other, but they just will not be able to move forward together. Before Maggie leaves, the two spend one last night together where they laugh, dance, cry, and spend the night together before they say their final goodbyes. In the aftermath of the breakup, Kara is Alex’s shoulder to cry on. Kara even calls J’onn telling him that the two of them will be away from the DEO for a little while, so that Alex can heal a little.
The episode ends with Samantha spending time with her daughter. Her daughter notices a hole in her mother’s shirt. Samantha then takes a look at her jacket where she sees a spent bullet in her jacket. Turns out during the shooting earlier when the parent tried to kill Lena Luthor, she was hit, but her powers saved her, confirming that she’s some sort of bullet-proof alien.
The Flash: “Girls Night Out”
No new Dark Matter metahumans this week on The Flash. Instead, it’s an episode full of bachelor/bachelorette parties as Barry and Iris have their own adventures. Barry and the guys have their own fun while Iris and the girls take center stage as they not only have a bachelorette party, but they also face off against evil metahuman gangsters.
Felicity from Arrow comes to town for Iris’ bachelorette party. Joining them also are Cecile and a reluctant Caitlin, who was in the middle of packing her bags to leave town before being invited on the festivities. This plays a giant role in the entire episode as Caitlin’s escapades before rejoining Team Flash are coming back to bite her.
As the girls are off for what appears to be a regular night out full of drinking and dinner (a tame bachelorette party) when a glass-eyed goon on this week’s bad guy Amunet Black shows up demanding Caitlin come with him. After the rest of the girls laugh him off as a stripper, an eye worm explodes from his glass eye to attack her. The girls get in fight mode and actually take him on. Caitlin realizes they need Killer Frost and turns into her Jekyll and Hyde persona to fight him off.
Killer Frost wants to get out of town because she knows that Amunet Black will still come after her. But Iris wants to help her friend. She even follows her as she tried to meet with the gangster. As Killer Frost pleads to Black (played by Battlestar Galactica alum Katee Sackhoff with an English accent) to let her go, Black reveals that Killer Frost is her best henchman and she needs her to secure safety for her latest trafficking victim, Weeper: a metahuman whose tears create a powerful hallucinogen. Although Killer Frost is able to escape thanks to Iris, the girls decide they will help get her free and save the poor metahuman help prisoner.
As Black goes to set up a deal with what is assumedly be a triad for Weeper’s tears, the girls spring into action. Despite having no powers, they use their brains to overcome Black (who’s magnetic powers are overcome by a magnet), her goons, and the triads, saving the day. At the end, Killer Frost and Caitlin manage to find a way to coexist and they both remain as members of Team Flash.
Meanwhile, the boys are also doing their own crazy night. Barry’s bachelor party was supposed to be nice and normal, just drinks and cigars. However, Ralph crashes the party and determines that it’s too lame, and proceeds to take the guys to a local strip club where he has his own framed picture as “customer of the month.” The funniest part of the episode is that Cisco gave Barry an alcohol concoction that can withstand his Speed Force-induced healing powers and get him really, really, really drunk. He proceeds to tell many patrons and strippers that he’s the flash countless times in his inebriation. Joe runs into Cecile’s daughter Joanie (who conveniently skipped the bachelorette party) stripping at the club. She explains to him it’s an exercise in feminism, but by the end of the episode, she decides to not continue it.
Thanks to Ralph stealing money from a stripper using his Plastic Man powers, the guys start a bar brawl and end up spending the night in jail. Barry and Joe have a heart to heart with Joe becoming a father again. Barry tells Joe that he was a great father to him despite having no help. Now that he has Cecile, he will also be a great father and there is nothing to fear. Harry (who didn’t get arrested) bails them out where they run into the girls back at STAR Labs and both parties say their nights were uneventful.
Legends of Tomorrow: “Return of the Mack”
This week on Legends of Tomorrow, the Legends go vampire hunting.
As the Legends are trying to understand the nature of these new time aberrations anachronisms, Nate tells the team that there are rumored vampire attacks in 1895 London. Mick becomes focused on the idea of killing a vampire. Gotta give props to actor Dominic Purcell, who is having a blast now on the show and completely is nailing the comedic timing for the character. He spends most of the episode with a stake in hand just ready to kill the undead. Even when the team meets a pathologist and are ready to perform an autopsy on a recently drained corpse, he quickly drives a stake through the body.
Oh, they also get some help this week. Even though they have been at odds with their former leader Rip Hunter and his Time Bureau, Rip is there trying to discover what’s going on as well. Despite reservations, Sara agrees to work with him to try and uncover the mystery surrounding the vampire and the mystery name “Mallus.”
While walking about, Nate gets kidnapped, which leads the Legends to learn about a secret society that happens to be run by none other than Stein’s ancestor (actor Victor Garber playing double duty this week as Stein and his great-great-grandfather), who leads an occult group. It turns out, they are trying to resurrect someone of power. The blood draining is not vampires, but instead, blood transfusions 1800s style. The person they are trying to bring back from the dead? Damien Dahrk.
Sara hates Dahrk more than anyone possibly could. After all, he killed her sister, Laurel Lance. She wants him dead. Meanwhile, Rip wants him to remain alive as he’s important to Mallus, which is Rip’s primary objective. Rip seemingly agrees with Sara, but it was a ruse as he then programs Gideon and the Wave Rider to imprison the Legends so that he can continue his solo mission.
The only person not stuck on the ship was Zari, who was captivated by one of the occult members as they were able to commune with her dead brother. She manages to infiltrate them just as they are resurrecting Dahrk. The Legends manage to escape the ship and arrive just as Dahrk is resurrected. The Time Bureau also arrives just in time which leads to an all-out battle against Dahrk and his forces while the song “Return of the Mack” is playing the entire time, hence the title. Even though the Legends hold their own, Dahrk manages to escape.
Because of Rip’s treachery, Sara realizes he can no longer be trusted and calls the Time Bureau on him to report his solo mission to them. They apprehend him for going against them and finally give the Legends free space to carry out their own missions without their interference, leaving Rip in their custody. I predict it now, Rip will be next season’s full-on bad guy.
Arrow: “Deathstroke Returns”
This week on Arrow, Oliver and Slade Wilson go on their own solo mission, and we finally get to see who Vigilante is.
Oliver seemed to be itching for some sort of action. Ever since he hung up the hood and gave the title of Green Arrow over to his buddy John Diggle, he’s been missing for his former lifestyle. Although he doesn’t want to go back towards the darkness, you know he secretly has been craving it. This week he gets to toe the line as Slade Wilson needs his help rescuing his son. Turns out his son joined Australian Secret Intelligence (following his father’s footsteps) and got himself in trouble in Kasnia.
However, Slade tells Oliver that he doesn’t need the Green Arrow. He needs help from Oliver Queen the politician. Turns out the folks in Kasnia would be fine with a face to face with a high profile American politician, so Slade has Oliver come to be the middle man to try and negotiate his son’s release.
The flashbacks return back to Arrow as they instead focus on Slade as he takes his son on a camping trip. Slade secretly was using the trip with his son as a means to carry out an execution. While he had a good time bonding with his son in the wilderness, he does bring his Deathstroke helmet and kills his target. It’s not revealed if his son actually saw the hit carried out, but it’s heavily implied.
When Oliver comes to the jail under the pretension of a humanitarian mission, the warden tells him that Slade’s son died during a prison fight the day before. Once Oliver reveals this to Slade, he goes to view the body. The warden didn’t count on this and gets caught in his lie. The warden’s family was threatened as a group called the Jackals kidnapped him.
Meanwhile, Team Arrow preparing for the vigilante vote. Vigilante, the take no prisoners vigilante tried to take out the politician responsible for the bill, Dinah uses a sonic scream against him. This causes his visor to shatter revealing him to be none other than her former partner and lover Vincent, who she thought was dead. Turns out the Particle Accelerator explosion that gave her the sonic scream powers also gave him a healing factor where he can heal from bullets to the head. He now operates as Vigilante and goes on killing sprees against those he deems bad guys, even corrupt politicians. Realizing how far gone he is after discovers his lair full of hordes of ammunition, Dinah wants to take him down. Diggle reasons with her to try and reach and help him. Once again, Dinah and Diggle look like they will eventually be a couple. They have the same amount of chemistry that Oliver and Felicity have.
In addition to trying to stop Vigilante, Team Arrow is now in FBI agent Watson’s crosshairs. She sets up meetings with each of them. Felicity is the first interview and provides Oliver with alibis. Hopefully, Watson is bad at her job (she isn’t) and can’t disprove those alibis. Diggle and Renee also have interviews with her. Curtis is upset that he’s not on the list.
Dinah knows that the politician is still on Vigilante’s radar, so she organizes protection during a television interview. She tells Team Arrow to lay low as agent Watson is there hoping to get them. Of course, Vigilante makes another attempt to kill the politician. He and Dinah have a fight where he reveals that he survived the explosion and is now doing what needs to be done. He takes a bullet to the head from a trigger-happy cop to save her. She then lets him escape when she realizes he can survive. In the aftermath, agent Watson comes to the conclusion that she is the Black Canary.
Slade realizes he has to take on the Jackals to try and find his son, he goes to full-on Deathstroke mode. After drugging Oliver, he attacks their lair. After killing numerous members of the group, he is finally cornered. With nowhere to go, the presumed leader of the Jackals (his former associate) tells him where his son is. His son is the leader of the Jackals!
