locker_monster (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
locker_monster) wrote2018-10-29 06:24 am
locker_monster) wrote2018-10-29 06:24 am
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Here's to another year of crazy superhero antics
All of the CW-DC shows are finally back!
Which premiere came out on top? Well, The Flash had some time travel shenanigans in the form of Nora, Barry and Iris' daughter from the future, Supergirl had some timely political commentary, and Arrow had Ollie in a super max prison, but you know what Legends of Tomorrow had? An honest to goodness unicorn. And not just any unicorn. A unicorn that gored people and ate their hearts. Yeah, you really can't top that. But let's talk about the shows one by one:
- I'm not sure if I want more time travel antics from anyone in the West-Allen family. We all know how that went for Barry. On the other hand, Nora seems likeable enough and I don't think she went back in time with the notion of stopping her father from disappearing. Of course, now Barry and Co. know he disappears in the near future, so that knowledge might screw things up. Oh god, if they end up doing another Flashpoint, I may just cry. It's also kind of annoying that they just replaced Wally with Nora in the role of Flash's sidekick. It's the same damn story; Barry mentoring an unexperienced speedster. What's wrong with Wally?
As for the new villain this season, I have no idea what's going on. Cicada wants to kill other metas, but why? In the comics, he seems to have the power to drain other people's life force, so maybe there's an element of that. I just hope the reveal isn't as lame as last year. We don't need another guy who just sits around all of the time.
New Wells for the season. Harrison Sherloque Wells. When he's first introduced, I couldn't pin down his accent. At first I thought he was English, then Scottish, and then I realized he's supposed to be French. Yeah, I would prefer a Wells that doesn't force Tom Cavanagh to put on a weak French accent all of the time. On the other hand, Tom Cavanagh is Canadian, so I assume he knows a little bit of French (At one point, Sherloque tells Cisco to shut up in French and I actually understood him! Way to go high school French.). Let's see how many episodes they go before they drop the accent completely.
Oh, and Barry's new suit. The cowl really, really needs that chinstrap again. Seeing all of Grant Gustin's chin and lower jaw is just weird. Someone else online pointed out that Grant Gustin doesn't have the jawline to pull it off and I kind of agree. I do like the brighter red, though.
- Supergirl finally remembered that Kara works at a newspaper/magazine! The writers would be idiots not to have her hanging around there this season, especially with the kinds of stories they are going to tell. Out of all of the shows, Supergirl has always used its premise to tell good stories about current events. Arrow kind of tried to comment about violence, and particularly gun violence in one episode, but it felt really heavy handed. Meanwhile, Supergirl can use aliens as metaphors for other issues and it's much easier to digest. It is subtle? No, but maybe subtly is not what is needed right now.
And I can see why they swapped Winn for Brainiac 5. Winn is a normal guy while Brainy is an alien. Winn wouldn't have had any interesting stories this season, I think. He'd just be sitting in front of the monitors, doing the techy guy thing. Brainy is from a different time, so he's not used to all of this rampant racism. It gives the show another angle from which to tell stories. And with J'onn off doing non-DEO things, he's also the only other alien at headquarters. So when things inevitable implode at the DEO, Brainy will probably be in the thick of it. Hopefully, this gives Alex the opportunity to kick a lot of butts.
Other new addition is Nia Nal. It's a huge deal that they have a transgender actor playing a transgender superhero and kudos to the show. Nia is season one Kara awkward right now, but I hope she evolves from that. I thought it was a little weird that she went to a pizza place to get coffee, but before that, she was sleeping, and most likely dreaming, so it's probable that she had a vision about Brainy and went there to help him. I don't know much about the comic book character Nia is based on, so it will be interesting to see where her storyline goes. Does that mean she's a meta? Supergirl hasn't really dealt with metas, since that's more of a thing on The Flash, but how else do you end up with precognitive powers?
Oh, and the writers re-imagined Mercy Graves and Otis as brother and sister. I can't recall if Otis ever had a last name, so no big deal. It seems to work with what they are going for this season. Though, I will miss the bumbling Otis from the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. I read that they will introduce Lex on Supergirl later in the season, which will be fun. They've slowly seeded Lex's backstory for this version of the mythos, so we will finally see the culmination of that. Some fans want Michael Rosenbaum back, but that's not how it works for Superman alum cameos. Save Michael Rosenbaum for something else. Also, they already have a Smallville alum playing the main villain this season.
Also, I really hope they have Lena finding out about Kara's dual identity as Supergirl. For a second, I thought they might do a reveal in the second episode, but nope. Instead, we got Kara trying to protect everyone without revealing her identity, which was just as good. Kara doing fake panicking as a way to try to split off from Lena was perfect. It's the kind of super dork-ery that works great for the character.
- I hope Ollie's prison stay is a bit longer than Barry's. Barry was in prison for, what? Three episodes? Of course, we all know Ollie will get out in time for the crossover. The same thing happened last year. Ollie stopped being Green Arrow but he conveniently put on the hood again just before "Crisis on Earth-X" happened. For now, the show seems to be serious about keeping Ollie locked up. The premiere had him moping around a bit, but now he has more motivation, so that will keep his story from going stale. I was kind of expecting more former bad guys to be in prison with Ollie, but maybe some of them ended up in Iron Heights instead.
The team obviously hasn't been a team in the time since the finale. I have to wonder how long the show will keep them out of their costumes. It's fine for now, but this is a show about vigilantes. Maybe the team will operate again even though vigilantism is illegal. Star City isn't going to clean up itself. As for the new Green Arrow... I had thought it would be Roy under the hood, but then they did the reveal that he's on Lian Yu. That is in the future, though, so maybe it is still Roy. The new Green Arrow's build looks kind of slight, and shorter, too, so maybe it's a woman under there. I'd love it if they revealed it was a woman. But who could it be? If it's someone we've already met, then the reveal will be way cooler. If it's a new character, then it's kind of boring. I can't think of any female characters who have been on the show who would have proper motivation to become the Green Arrow? Huntress is off being Huntress somewhere I'm sure. Evelyn Sharpe is very much dead.
Oh, I just had a thought. What if it's future William under the hood? I know it would be a slight repeat of Nora's situation on The Flash, but what's the point of the flashforwards if it's not tying back into the main story? Hopefully, this is just a crazy theory and not the actual case. In regards to the flashfowards themselves, what are they setting up? Lost did it and the time period of the flashforwards became the main time period while the stuff on the island was in the past. Is Arrow setting up an endgame for the show? Will the end of the show have Ollie passing the mantle to William?
I do wish that Ricardo Diaz wasn't still the villain. He's not running the city anymore, but it's just more of the same. Just get rid of the guy already. The addition of the Longbow Hunters does change it up a bit. They seem formidable enough that the only way to stop them is if the team gets back together. I guess right now it's more a revenge thing with Diaz, but I'm sure it will lead to something city wide threat thing for the end of the season.
- Oh, Legends of Tomorrow. On a wackiness scale of the CW-DC shows, they are definitely at the top of the list. Despite this, it's the most entertaining. Yes, things can get a bit kooky, but there are still solid character moments, too. The entire premiere could have been about a bloodthirsty unicorn, but there was stuff for the team as well. 1) Sara has some relationship stuff with Ava. I think it's been a very, very long time since Sara has been in a happy and stable relationship with anyone so she so wants everything to be perfect. 2) Nate is trying to work through his issues about his dad. It's always been a sore spot with Nate, so it will be interesting to see if he can work on his relationship with his dad without resorting to time travel (unlike some people on the team who use time travel selfishly). 3) Ray is trying to sort through his feelings about Nora Darkh. He thinks she can be redeemed, but he's also feeling guilty that she might be out in time killing people.
But it's Zari's short scene at the end of the episode that was the best. She wants nothing more than to tell her mother to get out of the country before things turn terrible, but Zari is responsible enough to know that she shouldn't break time for personal reasons. See, this is how things should be handled (are you paying attention, Amaya? Oh wait, you already broke time to fix your family history). I also loved that when Zari was tripping on unicorn glitter that she saw love everywhere. It was kind of weird that she had the hippie cliché while the guys saw the things they wanted to see most, but perhaps, Zari was also seeing the thing that she wanted to see the most. The future she's from is oppressive regime with little room for trust and love.
Oh, and Mick saw Axel, his old pet rat. :-D
It was strange seeing the team down to five members. When the show started, there were nine principle cast members. They'll fill out the roster soon enough, but who's the latest recruit? Why, everyone's favourite occult specialist. Well, Constantine will be a recruit soon. Or, I hope he will. I'd prfer he travel on the Waverider rather than the team coming to him every week for some mystical help. Come on, Constantine! You could use some company. You know you could charm the pants off Ray or Nate. Looks like Constantine ran afoul of some demon, which is why he's so grumpy. I hope it's the demon that was involved in the Newcastle incident. I didn't watch all of Constantine the show, so I don't know if we ever saw that demon, but Legends would be a good place to address that issue.
Man, I don't know how they are going to top Beebo from last year's finale.
I look forward to the crossover in December. Going off the pictures the actors have posted to social media, it's going to be crazy.
Which premiere came out on top? Well, The Flash had some time travel shenanigans in the form of Nora, Barry and Iris' daughter from the future, Supergirl had some timely political commentary, and Arrow had Ollie in a super max prison, but you know what Legends of Tomorrow had? An honest to goodness unicorn. And not just any unicorn. A unicorn that gored people and ate their hearts. Yeah, you really can't top that. But let's talk about the shows one by one:
- I'm not sure if I want more time travel antics from anyone in the West-Allen family. We all know how that went for Barry. On the other hand, Nora seems likeable enough and I don't think she went back in time with the notion of stopping her father from disappearing. Of course, now Barry and Co. know he disappears in the near future, so that knowledge might screw things up. Oh god, if they end up doing another Flashpoint, I may just cry. It's also kind of annoying that they just replaced Wally with Nora in the role of Flash's sidekick. It's the same damn story; Barry mentoring an unexperienced speedster. What's wrong with Wally?
As for the new villain this season, I have no idea what's going on. Cicada wants to kill other metas, but why? In the comics, he seems to have the power to drain other people's life force, so maybe there's an element of that. I just hope the reveal isn't as lame as last year. We don't need another guy who just sits around all of the time.
New Wells for the season. Harrison Sherloque Wells. When he's first introduced, I couldn't pin down his accent. At first I thought he was English, then Scottish, and then I realized he's supposed to be French. Yeah, I would prefer a Wells that doesn't force Tom Cavanagh to put on a weak French accent all of the time. On the other hand, Tom Cavanagh is Canadian, so I assume he knows a little bit of French (At one point, Sherloque tells Cisco to shut up in French and I actually understood him! Way to go high school French.). Let's see how many episodes they go before they drop the accent completely.
Oh, and Barry's new suit. The cowl really, really needs that chinstrap again. Seeing all of Grant Gustin's chin and lower jaw is just weird. Someone else online pointed out that Grant Gustin doesn't have the jawline to pull it off and I kind of agree. I do like the brighter red, though.
- Supergirl finally remembered that Kara works at a newspaper/magazine! The writers would be idiots not to have her hanging around there this season, especially with the kinds of stories they are going to tell. Out of all of the shows, Supergirl has always used its premise to tell good stories about current events. Arrow kind of tried to comment about violence, and particularly gun violence in one episode, but it felt really heavy handed. Meanwhile, Supergirl can use aliens as metaphors for other issues and it's much easier to digest. It is subtle? No, but maybe subtly is not what is needed right now.
And I can see why they swapped Winn for Brainiac 5. Winn is a normal guy while Brainy is an alien. Winn wouldn't have had any interesting stories this season, I think. He'd just be sitting in front of the monitors, doing the techy guy thing. Brainy is from a different time, so he's not used to all of this rampant racism. It gives the show another angle from which to tell stories. And with J'onn off doing non-DEO things, he's also the only other alien at headquarters. So when things inevitable implode at the DEO, Brainy will probably be in the thick of it. Hopefully, this gives Alex the opportunity to kick a lot of butts.
Other new addition is Nia Nal. It's a huge deal that they have a transgender actor playing a transgender superhero and kudos to the show. Nia is season one Kara awkward right now, but I hope she evolves from that. I thought it was a little weird that she went to a pizza place to get coffee, but before that, she was sleeping, and most likely dreaming, so it's probable that she had a vision about Brainy and went there to help him. I don't know much about the comic book character Nia is based on, so it will be interesting to see where her storyline goes. Does that mean she's a meta? Supergirl hasn't really dealt with metas, since that's more of a thing on The Flash, but how else do you end up with precognitive powers?
Oh, and the writers re-imagined Mercy Graves and Otis as brother and sister. I can't recall if Otis ever had a last name, so no big deal. It seems to work with what they are going for this season. Though, I will miss the bumbling Otis from the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. I read that they will introduce Lex on Supergirl later in the season, which will be fun. They've slowly seeded Lex's backstory for this version of the mythos, so we will finally see the culmination of that. Some fans want Michael Rosenbaum back, but that's not how it works for Superman alum cameos. Save Michael Rosenbaum for something else. Also, they already have a Smallville alum playing the main villain this season.
Also, I really hope they have Lena finding out about Kara's dual identity as Supergirl. For a second, I thought they might do a reveal in the second episode, but nope. Instead, we got Kara trying to protect everyone without revealing her identity, which was just as good. Kara doing fake panicking as a way to try to split off from Lena was perfect. It's the kind of super dork-ery that works great for the character.
- I hope Ollie's prison stay is a bit longer than Barry's. Barry was in prison for, what? Three episodes? Of course, we all know Ollie will get out in time for the crossover. The same thing happened last year. Ollie stopped being Green Arrow but he conveniently put on the hood again just before "Crisis on Earth-X" happened. For now, the show seems to be serious about keeping Ollie locked up. The premiere had him moping around a bit, but now he has more motivation, so that will keep his story from going stale. I was kind of expecting more former bad guys to be in prison with Ollie, but maybe some of them ended up in Iron Heights instead.
The team obviously hasn't been a team in the time since the finale. I have to wonder how long the show will keep them out of their costumes. It's fine for now, but this is a show about vigilantes. Maybe the team will operate again even though vigilantism is illegal. Star City isn't going to clean up itself. As for the new Green Arrow... I had thought it would be Roy under the hood, but then they did the reveal that he's on Lian Yu. That is in the future, though, so maybe it is still Roy. The new Green Arrow's build looks kind of slight, and shorter, too, so maybe it's a woman under there. I'd love it if they revealed it was a woman. But who could it be? If it's someone we've already met, then the reveal will be way cooler. If it's a new character, then it's kind of boring. I can't think of any female characters who have been on the show who would have proper motivation to become the Green Arrow? Huntress is off being Huntress somewhere I'm sure. Evelyn Sharpe is very much dead.
Oh, I just had a thought. What if it's future William under the hood? I know it would be a slight repeat of Nora's situation on The Flash, but what's the point of the flashforwards if it's not tying back into the main story? Hopefully, this is just a crazy theory and not the actual case. In regards to the flashfowards themselves, what are they setting up? Lost did it and the time period of the flashforwards became the main time period while the stuff on the island was in the past. Is Arrow setting up an endgame for the show? Will the end of the show have Ollie passing the mantle to William?
I do wish that Ricardo Diaz wasn't still the villain. He's not running the city anymore, but it's just more of the same. Just get rid of the guy already. The addition of the Longbow Hunters does change it up a bit. They seem formidable enough that the only way to stop them is if the team gets back together. I guess right now it's more a revenge thing with Diaz, but I'm sure it will lead to something city wide threat thing for the end of the season.
- Oh, Legends of Tomorrow. On a wackiness scale of the CW-DC shows, they are definitely at the top of the list. Despite this, it's the most entertaining. Yes, things can get a bit kooky, but there are still solid character moments, too. The entire premiere could have been about a bloodthirsty unicorn, but there was stuff for the team as well. 1) Sara has some relationship stuff with Ava. I think it's been a very, very long time since Sara has been in a happy and stable relationship with anyone so she so wants everything to be perfect. 2) Nate is trying to work through his issues about his dad. It's always been a sore spot with Nate, so it will be interesting to see if he can work on his relationship with his dad without resorting to time travel (unlike some people on the team who use time travel selfishly). 3) Ray is trying to sort through his feelings about Nora Darkh. He thinks she can be redeemed, but he's also feeling guilty that she might be out in time killing people.
But it's Zari's short scene at the end of the episode that was the best. She wants nothing more than to tell her mother to get out of the country before things turn terrible, but Zari is responsible enough to know that she shouldn't break time for personal reasons. See, this is how things should be handled (are you paying attention, Amaya? Oh wait, you already broke time to fix your family history). I also loved that when Zari was tripping on unicorn glitter that she saw love everywhere. It was kind of weird that she had the hippie cliché while the guys saw the things they wanted to see most, but perhaps, Zari was also seeing the thing that she wanted to see the most. The future she's from is oppressive regime with little room for trust and love.
Oh, and Mick saw Axel, his old pet rat. :-D
It was strange seeing the team down to five members. When the show started, there were nine principle cast members. They'll fill out the roster soon enough, but who's the latest recruit? Why, everyone's favourite occult specialist. Well, Constantine will be a recruit soon. Or, I hope he will. I'd prfer he travel on the Waverider rather than the team coming to him every week for some mystical help. Come on, Constantine! You could use some company. You know you could charm the pants off Ray or Nate. Looks like Constantine ran afoul of some demon, which is why he's so grumpy. I hope it's the demon that was involved in the Newcastle incident. I didn't watch all of Constantine the show, so I don't know if we ever saw that demon, but Legends would be a good place to address that issue.
Man, I don't know how they are going to top Beebo from last year's finale.
I look forward to the crossover in December. Going off the pictures the actors have posted to social media, it's going to be crazy.