Arrowverse Roundup - Week 7 Review

This week, the Arrowverse had some big moments, and also advanced some story lines that could possibly play into the crossover which happens next. As always there were highs and lows, but for the most part all four episodes were stronger than than they've been. There will be spoilers that follow for the episodes.

You can see all of this season's reviews right here.

Supergirl - Episode 3.07 - "Wake Up"

If you are paid any attention to the opening credits at all, you would Mon-El was going to return. He was still listed in the main cast, and not "Special Appearance By" or "Guest Star" status. But just when the show was able to move on, they brought it back to Kara and Mon-El. I like Mon-El, I just don't like when the show called Supergirl becomes about him rather than her.

His story seems to tie directly to Sam's becoming Reign though. He is a changed man after being gone for seven years to him, even though it was only seven months to Kara. He is married to another woman from the future, so the show seems to want to double-down on the relationship aspects, which they don't have a history of handling well.

Sam took a huge step forward in becoming Reign, she discovered her origins, and as is a common super hero trope, her origin is very similar to the hero. The only wrench in the plan is Sam's daughter which I know will absolutely come into play later.

Fathers have come into play before, and it is an important theme in Supergirl. This episode took J'onn's relationship with his father to a new level. The great part is that Winn helped with it. J'onn was pretty oblivious, or at least, not thinking about it because he was working too much. Winn finally had something to do, and it seems like he will have a good relationship with J'onns father in the future, if the show allows that to happen.

Seeds have been planted, and now the growth is starting. While the crossover looks amazing, I think it will hurt the season as a whole, because the momentum will stop cold. Maybe they incorporate it, but it feels like they have a lot to do without it anyway.

Overall, they did what they accomplished - expand Sam's story and fold Mon-El into the mix again. But next week is part 1 of the crossover and it seems that it will be the best one yet.

The Flash - Episode 4.07 - "Therefore I Am"

Welcome to The Flash where Barry Allen is acting weird! Team Flash finally met Clifford DeVoe, this seasons big bad called "The Thinker", and if they thought Savitar was always ahead of them, the Thinker is even worse.

DeVoe plays mind games with the team. Acts as an unassuming professor, and turns Barry into the villain, by accusing him of harassing, stalking, etc. Also, the episode focused on DeVoe's backstory for a lot of the episode, giving the rest of the cast a lighter work schedule to film the crossover.

The best part of that was it flashed back to the particle accelerator, and we got to see Evil Thawne-as-Wells again. He actually interacted with DeVoe. It's really the most time we have spent with the villain. It is a different approach - most of the time they are shrouded in secrecy, and the big "Scooby Doo mask off reveal" comes way late in the season. This is relatively early, meaning the story of DeVoe's plan, and how Team Flash will try to foil it is more important than who this person is.

The crossover next week literally revolved around Iris and Barry's wedding, so for them to have tension this week didn't tease anything. Barry (even though the audience knows he's right) is acting very out of character, and you can understand where Iris is coming from, but they have made so many bad choices with her character that it is instantly off-putting.

DeVoe and his wife are interesting characters - or can be. It is very nice to have a big bad villain that is not a speedster - after three seasons straight of speedster villains. It can work, but it is also risky, I mean look at Arrow. The best two villains were most like him - Malcolm Merlyn, another archer, and Deathstroke, the man who trained him. When they got into immortal beings and magic people, the show suffered. I don't think it will come to that. A non-speedster villain can absolutely work.

Wally West returned at the end, and while I don't know how long it will be, it does mean it he will play into the crossover, which is awesome. It'll be fun to see people interact who never have before.

Barry and Iris anchor the crossover next week. Out of all of the shows, I think they will handle the most "Flash business" in the four episodes. We don't have to wait long to see if I am correct.

Legends of Tomorrow - Episode 3.07 - "Welcome to the Jungle"

Legends of Tomorrow always seems to focus on a different character of the ensemble each week, we've had a lot of development for everyone, including the new cast members. The only one who has been in the background for most of the season so far is Dominic Purcell's Mick Rory. That changed this time, when the Legends went to Vietnam, and Rory saw his father.

It is nice that they tapped into Rory's origin that was originally presented in The Flash, and then largely ignored afterward until now. Rory killed his father in a fire that had left him with burns, and why he went by the moniker "Heatwave".

Supergirl has dealt with a lot of father issues, but Legends did it best. The supporting cast, especially Nate, were integral in Rory's story. Nate wanted to play "Dr. Phil" to Rory, and genuinely help him.

As if that wasn't enough, another Flash-Veteran appeared in the form of Gorilla Grodd. He was using Vietnam at the height of the war as his new kingdom. The marketing department kept it pretty quiet, it wasn't until right before the episode aired that he was in a quick promo.

The way Grodd's story ended, with Grodd teaming up with Damien Darhk, means we will probably see much more of Grodd this year. I like that characters from Arrow and The Flash can get new life on TV through Legends.

As always, Legends has been on top with their character game. With Jax being discouraged that he can't get Firestorm to himself, he was questioning his value as a "hero" and with Sara still out of commission from Darhk (Caity Lotz sitting out to film more of the crossover perhaps?) he had no one to turn to. He proved his own worth though, by going out there anyway, and saving the President of the United States.

Legends ended with Sara rejoining the team, like how Wally did in The Flash and Mon-El did in Supergirl. It is either because of the crossover or a massive coincidence, but I would bet its because of the former.

While Supergirl, The Flash, and the Green Arrow are the main three, I hope the Legends get their due next week, they were on the backburner last time, and they are loved enough to shine.

Arrow - Episode 6.07 - "Thanksgiving"

There were a ton of things that happened in this episode. Thanksgiving was not one of them. Oliver got arrested, Diggle got worse, and Cayden James made a revelation.

The FBI finally arrested Oliver Queen, saying they have proof, but we never saw what the proof was. I do hope we get to find out what the proof is, and that it is not a spy in their midst like last time with Adrian Chase. I wouldn't be surprised if Cayden James has hacked Team Arrow's computers and are anonymously sending things to the FBI.

While Cayden James is a cool character, his motivations are old hat. It was the same as Slade's motivations. It was the same as Adrian Chase's motivations. They both lost people they loved because of Ollie, and went after him. So I hope it becomes more than that, because it is a tired bit.

Billy Joel appeared - at least that's what was promoted. It happened just to be a quick shot of him at a real concert. I wanted Billy Joel to interact with the cast! Maybe one day...

Felicity and Curtis had a setback on their business when they needed to use the money for Oliver's bail and Curtis used the technology to try and fix Diggle's tremors. It also showed them in a light that we usually don't see. They were arguing and were bickering with each other. It was resolved quickly, and they are back to normal.

If that fight that didn't last long wasn't enough for you, then you're in luck because they did the exact same thing with Ollie and Diggle. They fought about Diggle's tremors then made up about ten show minutes later, and everything was back to normal. It might as well have not happened.

And to make it four out of four, Thea came out of her coma and returned to the show. I hope there is a scene in the crossover with Mon-El, Sara, Wally and Thea who all came back at the last minute this week, to poke fun at themselves.

I also hope Thea suits up in the future, whether its in the crossover, or beyond. If not, I at least hope she has a proper role in the future, whether it be to help with William, or Ollie's defense case. Thea is a great character when utilized properly. It'll be nice to have her back.



Next week is the four part crossover, over two days instead of four. Let's hope it lives up to the hype!