I was one of the many long-time DC fans who didn’t like much about the reboot. I was absolutely thrilled when many elements of it seemed to be “fixed” in my admittedly biased term, when the Rebirth special hit the stores on June 1st. Now some of the new stories are being explored in more depth.
Ok, you’ve probably heard about this one already. I did, too. I tried to let the rumors go until I read it for myself. Now that I have… I really don’t like it, and I don’t buy it. There are going to be spoilers here. Know that going in.
Arrow’s fourth season comes a close with “Schism.” Damian Darhk is on the loose, and he’s even more unhinged in the wake of his wife’s death. This means nothing good for Star City, and, as we find out, the rest of the world. It’s a finale with some weird twists and not so much a cliffhanger as a major status quo change at the end.
Gotham’s second season concludes with “Transference,” the end of the “Wrath of the Villains” arc. For a season finale, there aren’t a lot of surprises, nor is there a big cliffhanger. I almost wonder if when this was written, they weren’t sure they coming back for season three.
Anytime there’s a big change in something, some people will like it, and some will hate it. When it’s something that means a lot to people, the reactions are stronger. Several years ago, DC Comics rebooted their entire line, with a new history, new looks, new teams. Reaction was mixed. In the interests of full disclosure, I was a DC fan from the mid-80’s right up until the reboot.
The Flash ends Season Two with, “The Race of His Life.” There are a lot of surprises and twists, and they manage to keep curveballs coming right up until the very last scene. I didn’t see the end of this one coming, and a few other things along the way surprised me as well.
Legends of Tomorrow ends its first season with the appropriately titled “Legendary.” There were a lot of surprises, and I’ll do my best to keep the spoilers out of the review until the very end and I’ll mark them beforehand. But I will say the final reveal made the old-school DC Comics fan in me very happy.
Picking up precisely where last week’s episode left off, “Lost in the Flood” opens with Green Arrow and Spartan facing off against a newly repowered Damian Darhk. Darhk effortlessly turns both arrows and bullets to dust after stopping them in mid-air. Even he seems to be surprised by this trick. He then claims he’s going to pull all the oxygen from their bodies and then leaves. For whatever reason, his anti-oxygen power evidently fails, since both heroes survive. Darhk says he’s going to go get Rubicon under his control again.
The third season of Agents of SHIELD comes to an end with a two hour finale. The hours are titled “Absolution,” and “Ascension” respectively. Each title makes sense as the episode goes on, and things don’t go as well as they could. Also, as promised for weeks now by annoying voice-over man, “SOMEONE WILL DIE.” The two hours together are collectively “Fallen Agent,” which is somewhat ironic, really.
Flash’s season is almost done, and there’s a lot going on in “Invincible.” Zoom has unleashed his horde of evil metas on Central City, and the police are hopelessly outgunned. The group shot doesn’t allow us to pick who most of them are (I’m not quite geeky/obsessive enough to go back and watch it on frame by frame), but two of them appear to be versions of Hawkman and Hawkgirl at least.
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