2018-2019 Arrowverse Roundup - Week 26 Review


This week had hallucinations of old friends, humans being superhuman, a trip to hell, and a real plan revealed. The end of the seasons are near, with penultimate and finale episodes happening next week. So this week had a set up for those.

You can read all of this season's Arrowverse reviews right here.
  ***

Supergirl - Episode 4.20- "Will The Real Miss Tessmacher Please Stand Up?"


A moment in this episode that almost happened is something I've been waiting for a few seasons now. Kara was ready to tell Lena her secret identity. While that didn't happen, at least there were seeds planted for it happening in the future. For such a smart woman, Lena is awfully in the dark about an obvious thing.

Lockwood has gone even more extreme now, if that is possible. His wife is dead and he lost is son in the process. However, this falls into the troubling "kill a woman to motivate a man" trope that needs to go away. Lockwood was radicalized enough without the death of his wife. It seemed extraneous, except to drive his son away from him. His son, who wants nothing to do with him now.

Lockwood and James are now two sides of the same coin. They have powers now. One is pure and one is rotten, which is the entire point. It doesn't matter what species you are, its how you act.

Lena and Kara in Kaznia figuring out the Red Daughter and dealing with the duplicate Eve's was fun to watch. Both Lena and Kara got great fight scenes, and those were intercut with a great one between Lockwood and James. The B-plot concerning Alex and a potential baby seemed anti-climactic since she didn't get the baby. But I guess it was the journey she needed to go through to be absolute in her convictions.

The story of the episode was pretty good. But the CGI was absolutely horrendous. Manhunter was as bad as he's ever looked. He looked like he suffered a stroke before landing on Earth. It sucked. I know its an expensive effect on a show that is on a budget, but don't use it at all if you can't make it look half-way convincing.

With two episodes left things are shaping up nicely. The President is dirty, which we could have guessed. He kidnapped Kara and is probably in Lex's pocket. I can't wait for him to return in the finale.

*** 

Arrow - Episode 7.21 - "Living Proof"


This season, the last full-length season of Arrow, saw two show veterans from season 1 return. The first was Oliver's father, Robert Queen earlier in the season. This time it was Tommy Merlyn, Oliver's best friend.

It was great to see him back. The character died in s1, but they have found creative ways to let the actor return. A face changer, a flashback, an alt-world version, and a hallucination. This was a rather intimate episode, having the entire team besides Felicity stuck in a building. In that sense, it sort of reminded me of the second season finale of Torchwood.

The future story is gearing up for a big conclusion....or a big set up to continue for next season and beyond (spinoff?)

They are still dealing with story threads in the future, like William and Felicity's relationship. That will definitely be wrapped up soon, as Emily Bett Rickards is leaving the show after next week. They are certainly setting up Felicity's exit in both time periods.

It was nice to see the start of Dinah and Roy's relationship. You can tell they were close from the future scenes. But never saw the origin. Now we are, and it is working well. It is very sweet.

Emiko is evil, but the show does a good job showing why she thinks she is justified. The weird shift from Diaz to Emiko was not handled well at all. He had the worst exit of any villain ever. I still hold out hope that he isn't gone for good, because it was so anti-climactic. But while Emiko works well as a villain, the way the show set it up was awful.

The finale should be good, but they have a lot to do in 42 minutes. Two story lines in two different eras. A send off for Felicity. The show also has to plant seeds for Crisis and the very end of the show for good. There will only be 10 episodes left, so next season needs to hit the ground running.

*** 

Legends Of Tomorrow - Episode 4.14 - "Nip/Stuck"


When shows have been running for a while, one of the funnest things to see is a character or actor on the show play something we've never seen before. It happens every time on The Flash. We get to see Tom Cavanagh play a plethora of different people.

With Brandon Routh's Ray Palmer now possessed by Neron, he is playing things much differently, and it is fun to watch. But perhaps the most fun was seeing the usually ridiculous and camp Gary play it serious and straight laced. Adam Tsekhman displayed his range as an actor in "Nip/Stuck", and it was a joy.

Legends usually showcases relationships, but the one I enjoyed most was Rory and Sara. As Rory said, they are the only two originals left now that Ray is seemingly gone. The show is much different now than it was in the first season.

Constantine is now in Hell. He is going to rescue to try to rescue Ray. I have a feeling we will see all the Legends travel down there. The show has gotten strange, but has always been grounded in Earth. The weirdness came to them. Now they might be taking the next step, which is leaving Earth.

I am curious if we could possibly see Rip Hunter again though. His "death" was something of an insult, and swept aside much too quickly. Last year's finale had a bunch of old faces return. This year could the same thing happen? Hopefully. It would be fun to see Arthur Darvill again.

This episode was enjoyable for me because (most of) the team was together. That is when the show works best. They got to the heart of some root problems too. It was great to see them not so spread out. I hope it stays like that the next two episodes.

My favorite Star Wars reference (3,720 to 1) was in this episode too. They've streamlined some things, so it is has made the episodes stronger near the tail end. Let's hope that continues.

***

The Flash - Episode 5.21 - "The Girl With The Red Lightning"


Thawne being the true big bad of this season is great. The whole Cicada thing is a mess, so if that is all this season had, it wouldn't be good. There is already a lot of frustrating things that this season has to deal with. Cast members gone for large chunks of time is a big one. Jesse L Martin's is understandable and forgivable due to an injury. But Carlos Valdes? Who knows why. He is missed when he's not on screen though.

Then you have Nora. My problems with Nora can be summed up in one tweet:

If the payoff of all of that nonsense is Thawne v Barry, then it might be worth it. I liked that Ralph - of all people - figured out Thawne's plan...or at least more of it than anyone else did.

One of the seeds they planted that would be a nice story beat for next season is if they were setting Joe up to be Captain. I would hate to lose Singh on the show, he's great. But it would be good for Joe. Maybe Singh can transition to Arrow. They need someone now that it looks like Dinah might not be on the force any longer.


Overall this season has been lackluster, and plagued with issues. If Nora stays past the finale, I do hope that she has a bit of an overhaul.

***
The best episodes of the week were Supergirl and Arrow. Both had a lot of going for it, and while not perfect, their strengths outweighed their weaknesses.

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