This week, Flash and the STAR crew are dealing with a “Monster.” It’s a good episode for the “nothing is as it seems” theme. We learn a few secrets about various characters, and get a few surprises along the way. Of the various hero shows currently airing, I think Flash is remaining my favorite, not counting the Netflix shows which are in a class by themselves.
Jervis Tetch continues to wear out his welcome (much like the current Presidential election) in Gotham: Mad City: Red Queen. They are really stretching the coincidental Alice in Wonderland naming scheme here a few times. But they also did several pretty cool things this episode, so I can’t pick on them too much.
The Legends take a detour to feudal Japan in the rather simply titled “Shogun.” They mingle an origin story, a new team member, and a few different elements of various classic styles of Japanese-themed movies. It doesn’t all make sense, but it’s fun to watch.
“Penance,” opens with Team Arrow on the streets. Green Arrow is giving them a chance to show what they can do, and they fail pretty spectacularly. They are after Sergio, one of the higher-ups in Church’s organization. Artemis, who finally has a codename and is using a bow for absolutely no reason (aside from maybe the character from the Young Justice cartoon using one?) misses her shot when Wild Dog gets impatient and disobeys orders (again) and then Mr. Terrific rushes in and gets beaten to a pulp. In the comics, Mr. Terrific is a black belt in several different disciplines. That’s something Curtis might want to look into. Green Arrow eventually steps in to take over and finish with the thug. The team is told to bring him and the box he was carrying to the Anti-Crime Unit. Curtis, ever the rational one, wonders how to do this. “Do we call an Uber?”
This week’s Flash begins with a bit of a flashback (no pun intended for once). We see more events the night of the infamous particle accelerator explosion at STAR Labs. Interestingly I didn’t realize that Captain Cold/Leonard Snart had his trademark gun back then. In fact, I’m pretty sure I remember Cisco invented it after Barry got his powers as a way to stop him if he had to. So I guess this is somehow a ripple from Flashpoint, although that seems a bit thin since these events happened so long before Barry started time traveling.
Jervis Tetch continues to be a problem child for the people of Gotham in “Mad City: Follow the White Rabbit.” Personally, I find him annoying and keep hoping he’s about to go away, but I guess the writers like him. This week’s episode features him going to new lengths to avoid personal responsibility. While he hasn’t used the name yet, he’s living up the old “Mad as a hatter,” phrase. Although to use modern slang, he’s a hater, too.
Supergirl picks up exactly where it left off last time. The mysterious Pod Person has woken up, and apparently isn’t a morning person. He chokes out Kara, runs amok through the DEO, fights various guards, and manages to escape. He seemed surprised by his powers, which is an indication that either he wasn’t planning on coming to Earth or at least didn’t know that getting here would give him powers. Everyone is fine, but no one has a clue where he went.
Legends of Tomorrow’s new voice-over intro is done by Sara, which makes sense given the events of the episode. At the end of last episode, the Legends met a version of the Justice Society of America (also the title of the episode), consisting of Commander Steel, Dr. Midnight, Hourman, Obsidian, Stargirl, and Vixen. I’ll offer my commentary on that line up in a separate section after the main review. Typical for a first meeting of heroes, they fight at first, and the Legends get their collective butts kicked. I’m not quite sure how Stargirl’s cosmic rod split Firestorm back into Stein and Jax, but that’s another issue.
Arrow’s new episode, “A Matter of Trust,” has a lot of trust issues in it. Maybe it should have been “Matters”? It does open with a pretty good idea for the new team. Green Arrow is running down a drug dealer, while the team watches via some version of a body camera. That’s a pretty clever training technique, even if most of them aren’t impressed, especially the ever-impatient Wild Dog. After dropping by for a brief chat with the recruits, Oliver heads out again to a report of a gunman with an AR-15. This proves to be a false alarm by Billy Malone, Felicity’s new boyfriend and Star City Police Detective. Malone wanted to meet the archer, among other things, to warn him about Prometheus and his declared vendetta against the hero.
The Flash has changed the intro again, which was a good switch. He doesn’t sound like he’s frantic to the point of breaking like he did in the first episode, but that’s understandable. Barry hasn’t fixed everything, but he’s at least realizing he can’t. I’m so glad Jay spoke with him about that as part of the ongoing series of “CW heroes get told to get their act together” by their nearest and dearest. This week’s episode is titled “Magenta.”
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