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locker_monsterWell, the TV season is done, more or less. Just some long winded thoughts on my shows:
- Arrow: Season started off strong, but once Ollie got out of prison it sort of lost its focus. The whole thing with Emiko and the Ninth Circle was sort of convoluted. It's like they didn't know what to do with her. Like, why was she dressing up like the Green Arrow? If Emiko was all about terrorizing the city and killing people, why was helping people in the Glades? I get that you need a twist and a personal dilemma for Ollie, but there are other ways of going about it then by making his newly discovered half sister evil. I much would have preferred if Emiko hadn't been the villain. An arc about her trying to trust her new brother and eventually joining him in his crusade would have been much more interesting. You could even have had Ollie passing on his mantle. The ending that Emiko got was so flat. The writers rushed things so they could get to the real ending.
But I do understand why things were so rushed. You have to work in a series finale of sorts before the epilogue. I totally didn't expect the Monitor to show up to take Ollie away. I guess Ollie did make a deal with the Monitor back in "Elseworlds"; his life for the lives of Barry and Kara. I think I'll have to watch "Elseworlds" again. Was the deal to save Barry and Kara while they were trying to stop the world from spinning? Or was the deal to save their lives during the upcoming Crisis? Either way, the Monitor showed up to settle Ollie's debt. Now, I wonder if Ollie is taking on the role of Harbinger in the comics? The Harbinger in the comics was the Monitor's assistant and his herald of sorts. I would totally watch a season of Ollie travelling to other Earths and warning them of the approaching Crisis. There has been buzz that season eight won't be like any of the other seasons.
Oh, and the scene with Future!Felicity and the Monitor, where he takes her somewhere to see Ollie again? Um, are they doing a variation of the thing from "Crisis on Infinite Earths" where Earth-2 Lois and Earth-2 Superman got to live out their lives in a pocket dimension utopia? Or is the Monitor just taking Future!Felicity to the past so she can say good-bye to Ollie before he dies? While a reference to the ending of "Crisis on Infinite Earths" would be nice, that ending also led to Superboy Prime punching the walls of reality (it's a long story). We'll see, I guess. Maybe they can get Emily Bett Rickards back for a quick cameo in the crossover.
Over in flash forward land... Yeah, I don't know what was the point of flash forward. It kind of had a parallel sibling storyline with Mia and William, but I'm not sure what else it added. Actually, if you think about it, it kind of ruins the ending in the present day, since you know that Star City eventually becomes a slum and vigilantes are banned, so any good work done by Team Arrow is for nothing. Are the writers trying to do a spin-off? Arrow Beyond? I really don't want the last ten episodes of season eight dividing their time between the present and the future. This is the last hurrah; spend it with the characters we know the best.
Random: Well, I guess Flashpoint has erased the future we saw from "Star City 2046" on Legends of Tomorrow from existence. Ollie was alive and well in that future. They also changed the identity (but not the actor) who plays Connor Hawke. Making him not John's son but instead Bronze Tiger's son is fine, I suppose. Never made sense why J.J. decided to use the name Connor Hawke anyway. When they introduced the Zeta soldiers, I had hoped it was related to The Zeta Project, the spin-off from Batman Beyond, but alas, the soldiers were not A.I.s but just guys in fancy helmets. They introduced John's previously unmentioned stepfather, whose last name is Stewart, thus hinting that John is John Stewart on Earth-90. Oh man, if they have Earth-90 John/Green Lantern for the next crossover, that would be amazing. The only live action Green Lantern that they've done on TV was for that Justice League pilot that never went anywhere.
- The Flash: They also had an uneven season. Cicada was not a strong enough villain to sustain an entire arc. Even introducing Cicada II from the future didn't help. Cicada just wasn't compelling. Sure, the power dampening dagger put a kink in things, but when your villain always runs away when things get dicey, I really don't feel threatened. Maybe The Flash does need a speedster as the main villain. Perhaps after two seasons of non-speedster bad guys, they will go back to an evil speedster for season six. Sadly, they used up Godspeed as a bad guy in 2049, so there's little chance he can show up as a villain in the present.
The stuff with Nora was fine. The reveal that her time travelling was all part of an elaborate scheme of Thawne's? Meh. It was nicer to think that Nora was simply in the past to see her dad. It gets very timey-wimey when you involve Thawne. Also, how is Thawne still around? He was erased from time in season one and then erased again in season two of Legends of Tomorrow. The events of Flashpoint might explain how he was around for season two LoT, but not for this. I guess you can just claim he's a time remnant and call it a day (but that still doesn't explain why he still looks like Harrison Wells, but anyway...). Nora being erased from time was not that surprising. Time meddling never ends well. But did she disappear more because the Crisis has moved up from 2024? Nora said Barry disappeared not long after she was born. So if Barry disappears in 2019, then she was never born. But how can Nora's travelling back to the past affect when the Crisis happens? Barry seems resigned to the fact that he will disappear in the future, so it's not like he's trying to prevent that. Perhaps Ollie's deal with the Monitor messed things up and that causes the Time Flux. Or maybe Nora never became XS, so that version of her was erased. Ah, time travel. It's never straightforward.
As for everything else... Man, Carlos Valdes is so ready to leave. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't come back for season six. But the solution was for Cisco to take the metahuman cure? That didn't feel earned. Sherloque is back on his Earth and I assume he's staying there. He doesn't seem like a Wells worth revisiting. Will they introduce a new Wells? Or maybe they'll bring back Harry. I would prefer having Harry back, even if he's not a genius anymore. Better to have an established character around for the crossover. Caitlin lost her dad, but it looks like her mother could potentially become a cold based bad guy. And a tease for a proper suit for Killer Frost! Also being teased: a love interest for Ralph. If they introduce Sue next season, that would be fun. She's a pretty decent detective, too, so they could have Ralph and Sue on a case.
Random: It's kind of funny that they pretty much forgot about baby Jenna. Joe and Cecile must have the world's best babysitter. I like that Singh figured out that Barry is the Flash. I wonder how long he's known. With Joe as police captain now, I guess he can cover for Barry more often. Will Wally be back for the crossover? It'd be nice if he made an appearance. I don't understand how everyone showed up in 2049 to battle Thawne. It's been established that the Time Sphere can only hold one person. That's why Ralph had to squish himself flat when he went with Iris to the future. Did everyone just pile in and there were arms and legs in everyone's faces?
- Supergirl: I have to say that this season was an improvement over last season. Season four had a better focus; they really knew what kind of stories they wanted to tell. I don't know if it was always the plan to have Lex behind everything, but it did help to tie together the Children of Liberty stuff with the Red Daughter stuff. It was also a good example of how you can have two villains for a season; no one arc felt stretched out. It's a shame they only had Lex for three episodes, but he's the sort of character that you want to use sparingly anyway. If he had been around for more episodes, there would have been a lot of scenes of him just standing around and scheming.
I have to say, I was impressed with Jon Cryer's performance. When they first announced him as Lex, I kind of raised an eyebrow. Super stunt casting is great and all, but just because someone has been in one Superman production that doesn't mean they need to come back as a different character on another Superman production. Thankfully, my skepticism was proved wrong. Jon Cryer and the writers portrayed Lex with the right amounts of intellect and menace and glee and wrath. I guess he has redeemed himself for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (which I have never seen, but I hear it's terrible). They left the door open for him to come back, too. I can only assume that the Monitor resurrects Lex in that last scene. Alexander Luthor of Earth-3 was an important part of "Crisis on Infinite Earths". Perhaps a resurrected Lex will play a similar role? Oh, and the writers addressed the whole age thing (how Jon Cryer and Brenda Strong are close in age, so it's weird that they play mother and son), by having Lillian say that cancer prematurely aged Lex. :-D
Of course, Lex is only dead because Lena shot him. Lena has done some pretty questionable/morally ambiguous in the past, but this was outright murder. Is the show slowly leading her down a path to supervillainy? Her world is shattered when Lex tells her that Kara is Supergirl and that everyone has been lying to her. Personally, I would have liked it if Lena had said she has known all along. It's always better when the character in the dark finds out/figures out the whole secret identity thing on their own. Makes them look less stupid. However, it would be super interesting to see Lena eventually become Kara's enemy. How do fight someone who is your best friend? Though, I wouldn't put it past the writers to do a fake out and have everything work out once Kara tells Lena the truth.
Red Daughter is conveniently dispatched. I'm surprised the writers didn't have her turning against Lex. Sure, it might have been cheesy, having the bad guy have a change of heart because of some rousing words from the hero, but it would have been very Supergirl. Then you could have had Kara and Red Daughter fighting Lex together. Afterwards, you could send Red Daughter off to Argo to live with Kara's mother, and thus, you write her out and never hear from her again. Oh well. Melissa Benoist did do an excellent job playing both characters. My god, she can sell those emotional moments so well.
Random: The storyline with Manchester Black just fizzled out. J'onn kills him and no one thinks it's a big deal? I feel like that plot point could have been touched on a bit more, but I suppose the season was already a bit stuffed. I'm not sure what the whole point of wiping Alex's memories was. It added some drama, but then it was undone in the end. They better visit the 30th century for next season, damn it. The Legion of Superheroes were involved in "Crisis on Infinite Earths" so they better be part of the crossover. I know that would involve introducing more characters and making costumes for everyone, but it would be so fun. The writers sent Winn to the future for a reason; they better well follow through. So, J'onn has a brother that he's never mentioned before? The credits call him Malefic J'onzz. A quick Google tells me that Malefic is indeed a character from the comics and a villain. Malefic is also voiced by Phil LaMarr, who played John Stewart on the Justice League cartoon. I'm a little bummed he's not being played by Phil Morris, who played J'onn on Smallville. Well, maybe things can change during the off season. I'm also bummed that Alex's adoption didn't go through. Just imagine Kara being the best super aunt and flying around grabbing diapers and formula. I had to Google Leviathan as well. Turns out they're a criminal organization run by Talia al Ghul. One assumes Talia won't be running it on Earth-38, but it is something to revisit next season. Ooh, can Lois and Clark (and their super baby) come back for season five, too? You can have them come back just in time for the crossover.
- Legends of Tomorrow: Season four started out strong but the back half lacked the same oomph. I blame it on the sudden re-write they did when they realized that they didn't want Tom Wilson's character to be the bad guy. With no clear follow through, things just sort of flitted about. The government wanted to train monsters for nefarious purposes. No wait, really Nate's dad just wanted to train monsters to be attractions in a theme park. And over here, Neron wanted to steal souls to cause mass panic. No wait, he wanted to open a portal to hell to free his evil girlfriend. No, actually, he wanted harness souls to tak over hell. But wait, he really wanted to unleash hell on earth through the power of fear. Even without the sudden mid season change, we all know there was no way they were topping last season's finale. You really can't beat a giant Beebo fighting a time demon. The writers still tried to go for big and weird, but they didn't quite stick the landing.
Despite all this, the show still had a good emotional heart. There weren't just crazy shenanigans just for the sake of crazy shenanigans. Nate worked out his father issues, Sara and Ava had their relationship woes, Ray tackled his feelings for Nora. Heck, even Mick had a meaningful arc with his romance writing. The only thing that felt off was the sudden relationship that developed between Zari and Nate. I don't know if that was part of the re-write, but it didn't feel organic. It might have worked if they had had more time to develop it. It was established that Zari does have issues opening up herself to other people and her panic over becoming emotionally vulnerable with someone felt genuine, but just because she had to pose as Nate's girlfriend she suddenly has romantic feelings for him? LoT has shaken off a lot of the terrible trappings from their first season, but their habit of forcing characters into relationships that weren't there doesn't ever seem to go away. Characters can develop without having romances.
Of course, now Zari is gone. Her past has been re-written such that she never joined the Legends. Is this a permanent thing? Because I really like Zari and it'd be horrible if she was written off just like that. Considering that LoT is coming back in the mid season, maybe the crossover will mix things up and Zari will be brought back that way? Or maybe it's an arc they will tackle over the course of the season. The finale doesn't offer much about what's to come. Astra seems to release the souls of evil doers back into the world? So, are the Legends hunting them down next season? It would be a good reason to keep Constantine around. I really expected them to write him out, since this seemed like a one time deal, but maybe Constantine likes being on a team now. Though, it also seems like Mona and Gary are sticking around, too. I hate to say it, but they are kind of annoying. Gary has always been best in small doses, but I don't think I can handle him being around full time. Mona doesn't add much, either. Maybe the crossover will play around with the crew roster.
Random: So, the power of love through song brought Nate back from the dead? Um, couldn't Gideon just heal him on the Waverider? She has healed people who were strangled before. Or maybe Ne-Ray killed him with magic. Either way, totally weird, but very on brand for LoT. It's also no weirder than Kara healing herself with sunlight pulled from plants and grass. What happens to the magical creatures now? They certainly can't go back to hell. Are they now stuck being side show attractions at Heyworld? Is Nora also stuck being Gary's Fairy Godmother for the foreseeable future? Quick appearance by the Monitor just to tie all the shows in to the crossover. He kind of looks unimpressed with them; like, he's thinking "I can't believe I have to recruit these guys." Though, later on, he is eating popcorn and enjoying the show, so maybe the Legends proved themselves worthy. Sara, Nate, and Gary dressed up like Supergirl, Green Arrow, and the Flash was so bizarre, but it worked. The call back to "Legends of To-meow-meow" ("Hard pass") was perfect. And they called Kara, Ollie, and Barry the Trinity! Quick cameo by Vandal Savage. Oh my god, I never expected to see him again. What's great is that they played his appearance as one big joke, as you should with his character. Also great, Ray and Savage playing giant Jenga.
While I know that LoT's mid season premiere is probably due more to the fact that the CW doesn't have enough room in its programming schedule, it would be cool if Arrow had a scene where Ollie shows up on the Waverider and he recruits the team to help him travel around the Multiverse. Just swap out Gideon's time drive with interdimensional extrapolator. The Legends can get in half of season of adventuring before coming back in their own show. It'd be like Sliders, only with superheroes. I mean, you have to visit the other Earths before destroying them and mushing the remains together (assuming they are going down that road). It's most likely just wishful thinking on my part, but stranger things have happened in the Arrowverse.
- So, for the crossover, it's across all five shows, though the first three episodes will air in December 2019 and the last two in 2020. I'm disappointed that Legends of Tomorrow is getting pushed back to a mid season premiere, but at least they are a part of the crossover this time. Seems strange that they're splitting it like that instead of airing it across an entire week, but maybe it's so big, they need the extra time to do special effects or something. And I would honestly love it if they visited other Earths that were old DC TV shows, like Smallville Earth or Lois and Clark Earth. They did it with 1990 The Flash, so it's not a stretch. Oh, and it's cool that they're bundling the CW-DC shows next season. Supergirl and Batwoman on Sundays and The Flash and Arrow on Tuesdays.
And now to the non CW-DC shows...
- Star Trek: Discovery: All I can say is, thank god Discovery is now stuck in the future. The show never really worked as a prequel. But by throwing the characters in the far future, the writers are freed from having to maintain continuity and canon so now they can get really creative. It remains to be seen if the characters will meet up with Starfleet in the future or if they'll just hang around Terralysium. While it would be neat to see how the Federation and Starfleet has changed over the centuries, I kind of also want to see the crew just trying to make it on their own. Yes, it's kind of a riff on Voyager's premise, but Voyager never really leaned into the potential of its premise, so it would be nice to see it done properly.
I never really got into Ethan Peck's portrayal of Spock. It was so stiff. Spock is emotionless, but he's not a robot. I guess one could argue that the character here hasn't evolved yet into the character we know and love, but still. I did enjoy Anson Mount as Pike. I could definitely get behind a spin-off with Pike and Number One and the adventures of the Enterprise before Kirk became captain. Yes, it would be another prequel, but I think the writers could make it work.
- The Orville: Renewed for season three! It's still weird how much I like this show. I guess it's because it feels like the Star Trek show I'm used to (i.e. TNG). Season two was a definite improvement over season one. They dialled back on the stupidity of the jokes and they focused more on the characters. I'm also game for more guest spots from Star Trek alum. I laughed so hard when they had not one, but two doctors in one episode (The Doctor and Phlox).
- The Rookie: Also renewed! I watch mainly for Nathan Fillion, but it's not a bad show on its own.
iZombie and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are still going. Last season for iZombie but I'm not sure how it's going to end. Meanwhile, on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., stuff is happening, though it's not super clear why. There's also the matter of the elephant in the room:
So, is the show set post-Snap/post-Endgame? Season six is set a year after season five, which would put it a year after the Snap. However, there's no indication that Thanos wiped out half the population of Earth. No one brings it up and all of the team is conveniently still alive. So, is the show purposely ignoring the movies? You could argue season six is set during the five year gap. Just because the characters don't talk about the Snap, doesn't mean it didn't happen. One character mentions he lost his husband recently. You could interpret that as the husband turned to dust. The outdoor scenes aren't conclusive, either. There doesn't appear to be fewer people around. As for the probability that none of the main cast disappeared? Well, what are the odds that all of the original Avengers would survive?
But I think it's easier to assume that AoS now takes place in an alternative timeline where the Snap never happened. The team did do some time travelling of their own, so maybe they landed in a new timeline once they got back to the present. Maybe in this reality, Thor went for the head. Now that the multiverse seems to be a thing in the MCU, this doesn't seem that out there.
The only new show I'm interested in seeing right now is Batwoman, but honestly, I haven't seen what the other networks are offering.
- Arrow: Season started off strong, but once Ollie got out of prison it sort of lost its focus. The whole thing with Emiko and the Ninth Circle was sort of convoluted. It's like they didn't know what to do with her. Like, why was she dressing up like the Green Arrow? If Emiko was all about terrorizing the city and killing people, why was helping people in the Glades? I get that you need a twist and a personal dilemma for Ollie, but there are other ways of going about it then by making his newly discovered half sister evil. I much would have preferred if Emiko hadn't been the villain. An arc about her trying to trust her new brother and eventually joining him in his crusade would have been much more interesting. You could even have had Ollie passing on his mantle. The ending that Emiko got was so flat. The writers rushed things so they could get to the real ending.
But I do understand why things were so rushed. You have to work in a series finale of sorts before the epilogue. I totally didn't expect the Monitor to show up to take Ollie away. I guess Ollie did make a deal with the Monitor back in "Elseworlds"; his life for the lives of Barry and Kara. I think I'll have to watch "Elseworlds" again. Was the deal to save Barry and Kara while they were trying to stop the world from spinning? Or was the deal to save their lives during the upcoming Crisis? Either way, the Monitor showed up to settle Ollie's debt. Now, I wonder if Ollie is taking on the role of Harbinger in the comics? The Harbinger in the comics was the Monitor's assistant and his herald of sorts. I would totally watch a season of Ollie travelling to other Earths and warning them of the approaching Crisis. There has been buzz that season eight won't be like any of the other seasons.
Oh, and the scene with Future!Felicity and the Monitor, where he takes her somewhere to see Ollie again? Um, are they doing a variation of the thing from "Crisis on Infinite Earths" where Earth-2 Lois and Earth-2 Superman got to live out their lives in a pocket dimension utopia? Or is the Monitor just taking Future!Felicity to the past so she can say good-bye to Ollie before he dies? While a reference to the ending of "Crisis on Infinite Earths" would be nice, that ending also led to Superboy Prime punching the walls of reality (it's a long story). We'll see, I guess. Maybe they can get Emily Bett Rickards back for a quick cameo in the crossover.
Over in flash forward land... Yeah, I don't know what was the point of flash forward. It kind of had a parallel sibling storyline with Mia and William, but I'm not sure what else it added. Actually, if you think about it, it kind of ruins the ending in the present day, since you know that Star City eventually becomes a slum and vigilantes are banned, so any good work done by Team Arrow is for nothing. Are the writers trying to do a spin-off? Arrow Beyond? I really don't want the last ten episodes of season eight dividing their time between the present and the future. This is the last hurrah; spend it with the characters we know the best.
Random: Well, I guess Flashpoint has erased the future we saw from "Star City 2046" on Legends of Tomorrow from existence. Ollie was alive and well in that future. They also changed the identity (but not the actor) who plays Connor Hawke. Making him not John's son but instead Bronze Tiger's son is fine, I suppose. Never made sense why J.J. decided to use the name Connor Hawke anyway. When they introduced the Zeta soldiers, I had hoped it was related to The Zeta Project, the spin-off from Batman Beyond, but alas, the soldiers were not A.I.s but just guys in fancy helmets. They introduced John's previously unmentioned stepfather, whose last name is Stewart, thus hinting that John is John Stewart on Earth-90. Oh man, if they have Earth-90 John/Green Lantern for the next crossover, that would be amazing. The only live action Green Lantern that they've done on TV was for that Justice League pilot that never went anywhere.
- The Flash: They also had an uneven season. Cicada was not a strong enough villain to sustain an entire arc. Even introducing Cicada II from the future didn't help. Cicada just wasn't compelling. Sure, the power dampening dagger put a kink in things, but when your villain always runs away when things get dicey, I really don't feel threatened. Maybe The Flash does need a speedster as the main villain. Perhaps after two seasons of non-speedster bad guys, they will go back to an evil speedster for season six. Sadly, they used up Godspeed as a bad guy in 2049, so there's little chance he can show up as a villain in the present.
The stuff with Nora was fine. The reveal that her time travelling was all part of an elaborate scheme of Thawne's? Meh. It was nicer to think that Nora was simply in the past to see her dad. It gets very timey-wimey when you involve Thawne. Also, how is Thawne still around? He was erased from time in season one and then erased again in season two of Legends of Tomorrow. The events of Flashpoint might explain how he was around for season two LoT, but not for this. I guess you can just claim he's a time remnant and call it a day (but that still doesn't explain why he still looks like Harrison Wells, but anyway...). Nora being erased from time was not that surprising. Time meddling never ends well. But did she disappear more because the Crisis has moved up from 2024? Nora said Barry disappeared not long after she was born. So if Barry disappears in 2019, then she was never born. But how can Nora's travelling back to the past affect when the Crisis happens? Barry seems resigned to the fact that he will disappear in the future, so it's not like he's trying to prevent that. Perhaps Ollie's deal with the Monitor messed things up and that causes the Time Flux. Or maybe Nora never became XS, so that version of her was erased. Ah, time travel. It's never straightforward.
As for everything else... Man, Carlos Valdes is so ready to leave. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't come back for season six. But the solution was for Cisco to take the metahuman cure? That didn't feel earned. Sherloque is back on his Earth and I assume he's staying there. He doesn't seem like a Wells worth revisiting. Will they introduce a new Wells? Or maybe they'll bring back Harry. I would prefer having Harry back, even if he's not a genius anymore. Better to have an established character around for the crossover. Caitlin lost her dad, but it looks like her mother could potentially become a cold based bad guy. And a tease for a proper suit for Killer Frost! Also being teased: a love interest for Ralph. If they introduce Sue next season, that would be fun. She's a pretty decent detective, too, so they could have Ralph and Sue on a case.
Random: It's kind of funny that they pretty much forgot about baby Jenna. Joe and Cecile must have the world's best babysitter. I like that Singh figured out that Barry is the Flash. I wonder how long he's known. With Joe as police captain now, I guess he can cover for Barry more often. Will Wally be back for the crossover? It'd be nice if he made an appearance. I don't understand how everyone showed up in 2049 to battle Thawne. It's been established that the Time Sphere can only hold one person. That's why Ralph had to squish himself flat when he went with Iris to the future. Did everyone just pile in and there were arms and legs in everyone's faces?
- Supergirl: I have to say that this season was an improvement over last season. Season four had a better focus; they really knew what kind of stories they wanted to tell. I don't know if it was always the plan to have Lex behind everything, but it did help to tie together the Children of Liberty stuff with the Red Daughter stuff. It was also a good example of how you can have two villains for a season; no one arc felt stretched out. It's a shame they only had Lex for three episodes, but he's the sort of character that you want to use sparingly anyway. If he had been around for more episodes, there would have been a lot of scenes of him just standing around and scheming.
I have to say, I was impressed with Jon Cryer's performance. When they first announced him as Lex, I kind of raised an eyebrow. Super stunt casting is great and all, but just because someone has been in one Superman production that doesn't mean they need to come back as a different character on another Superman production. Thankfully, my skepticism was proved wrong. Jon Cryer and the writers portrayed Lex with the right amounts of intellect and menace and glee and wrath. I guess he has redeemed himself for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (which I have never seen, but I hear it's terrible). They left the door open for him to come back, too. I can only assume that the Monitor resurrects Lex in that last scene. Alexander Luthor of Earth-3 was an important part of "Crisis on Infinite Earths". Perhaps a resurrected Lex will play a similar role? Oh, and the writers addressed the whole age thing (how Jon Cryer and Brenda Strong are close in age, so it's weird that they play mother and son), by having Lillian say that cancer prematurely aged Lex. :-D
Of course, Lex is only dead because Lena shot him. Lena has done some pretty questionable/morally ambiguous in the past, but this was outright murder. Is the show slowly leading her down a path to supervillainy? Her world is shattered when Lex tells her that Kara is Supergirl and that everyone has been lying to her. Personally, I would have liked it if Lena had said she has known all along. It's always better when the character in the dark finds out/figures out the whole secret identity thing on their own. Makes them look less stupid. However, it would be super interesting to see Lena eventually become Kara's enemy. How do fight someone who is your best friend? Though, I wouldn't put it past the writers to do a fake out and have everything work out once Kara tells Lena the truth.
Red Daughter is conveniently dispatched. I'm surprised the writers didn't have her turning against Lex. Sure, it might have been cheesy, having the bad guy have a change of heart because of some rousing words from the hero, but it would have been very Supergirl. Then you could have had Kara and Red Daughter fighting Lex together. Afterwards, you could send Red Daughter off to Argo to live with Kara's mother, and thus, you write her out and never hear from her again. Oh well. Melissa Benoist did do an excellent job playing both characters. My god, she can sell those emotional moments so well.
Random: The storyline with Manchester Black just fizzled out. J'onn kills him and no one thinks it's a big deal? I feel like that plot point could have been touched on a bit more, but I suppose the season was already a bit stuffed. I'm not sure what the whole point of wiping Alex's memories was. It added some drama, but then it was undone in the end. They better visit the 30th century for next season, damn it. The Legion of Superheroes were involved in "Crisis on Infinite Earths" so they better be part of the crossover. I know that would involve introducing more characters and making costumes for everyone, but it would be so fun. The writers sent Winn to the future for a reason; they better well follow through. So, J'onn has a brother that he's never mentioned before? The credits call him Malefic J'onzz. A quick Google tells me that Malefic is indeed a character from the comics and a villain. Malefic is also voiced by Phil LaMarr, who played John Stewart on the Justice League cartoon. I'm a little bummed he's not being played by Phil Morris, who played J'onn on Smallville. Well, maybe things can change during the off season. I'm also bummed that Alex's adoption didn't go through. Just imagine Kara being the best super aunt and flying around grabbing diapers and formula. I had to Google Leviathan as well. Turns out they're a criminal organization run by Talia al Ghul. One assumes Talia won't be running it on Earth-38, but it is something to revisit next season. Ooh, can Lois and Clark (and their super baby) come back for season five, too? You can have them come back just in time for the crossover.
- Legends of Tomorrow: Season four started out strong but the back half lacked the same oomph. I blame it on the sudden re-write they did when they realized that they didn't want Tom Wilson's character to be the bad guy. With no clear follow through, things just sort of flitted about. The government wanted to train monsters for nefarious purposes. No wait, really Nate's dad just wanted to train monsters to be attractions in a theme park. And over here, Neron wanted to steal souls to cause mass panic. No wait, he wanted to open a portal to hell to free his evil girlfriend. No, actually, he wanted harness souls to tak over hell. But wait, he really wanted to unleash hell on earth through the power of fear. Even without the sudden mid season change, we all know there was no way they were topping last season's finale. You really can't beat a giant Beebo fighting a time demon. The writers still tried to go for big and weird, but they didn't quite stick the landing.
Despite all this, the show still had a good emotional heart. There weren't just crazy shenanigans just for the sake of crazy shenanigans. Nate worked out his father issues, Sara and Ava had their relationship woes, Ray tackled his feelings for Nora. Heck, even Mick had a meaningful arc with his romance writing. The only thing that felt off was the sudden relationship that developed between Zari and Nate. I don't know if that was part of the re-write, but it didn't feel organic. It might have worked if they had had more time to develop it. It was established that Zari does have issues opening up herself to other people and her panic over becoming emotionally vulnerable with someone felt genuine, but just because she had to pose as Nate's girlfriend she suddenly has romantic feelings for him? LoT has shaken off a lot of the terrible trappings from their first season, but their habit of forcing characters into relationships that weren't there doesn't ever seem to go away. Characters can develop without having romances.
Of course, now Zari is gone. Her past has been re-written such that she never joined the Legends. Is this a permanent thing? Because I really like Zari and it'd be horrible if she was written off just like that. Considering that LoT is coming back in the mid season, maybe the crossover will mix things up and Zari will be brought back that way? Or maybe it's an arc they will tackle over the course of the season. The finale doesn't offer much about what's to come. Astra seems to release the souls of evil doers back into the world? So, are the Legends hunting them down next season? It would be a good reason to keep Constantine around. I really expected them to write him out, since this seemed like a one time deal, but maybe Constantine likes being on a team now. Though, it also seems like Mona and Gary are sticking around, too. I hate to say it, but they are kind of annoying. Gary has always been best in small doses, but I don't think I can handle him being around full time. Mona doesn't add much, either. Maybe the crossover will play around with the crew roster.
Random: So, the power of love through song brought Nate back from the dead? Um, couldn't Gideon just heal him on the Waverider? She has healed people who were strangled before. Or maybe Ne-Ray killed him with magic. Either way, totally weird, but very on brand for LoT. It's also no weirder than Kara healing herself with sunlight pulled from plants and grass. What happens to the magical creatures now? They certainly can't go back to hell. Are they now stuck being side show attractions at Heyworld? Is Nora also stuck being Gary's Fairy Godmother for the foreseeable future? Quick appearance by the Monitor just to tie all the shows in to the crossover. He kind of looks unimpressed with them; like, he's thinking "I can't believe I have to recruit these guys." Though, later on, he is eating popcorn and enjoying the show, so maybe the Legends proved themselves worthy. Sara, Nate, and Gary dressed up like Supergirl, Green Arrow, and the Flash was so bizarre, but it worked. The call back to "Legends of To-meow-meow" ("Hard pass") was perfect. And they called Kara, Ollie, and Barry the Trinity! Quick cameo by Vandal Savage. Oh my god, I never expected to see him again. What's great is that they played his appearance as one big joke, as you should with his character. Also great, Ray and Savage playing giant Jenga.
While I know that LoT's mid season premiere is probably due more to the fact that the CW doesn't have enough room in its programming schedule, it would be cool if Arrow had a scene where Ollie shows up on the Waverider and he recruits the team to help him travel around the Multiverse. Just swap out Gideon's time drive with interdimensional extrapolator. The Legends can get in half of season of adventuring before coming back in their own show. It'd be like Sliders, only with superheroes. I mean, you have to visit the other Earths before destroying them and mushing the remains together (assuming they are going down that road). It's most likely just wishful thinking on my part, but stranger things have happened in the Arrowverse.
- So, for the crossover, it's across all five shows, though the first three episodes will air in December 2019 and the last two in 2020. I'm disappointed that Legends of Tomorrow is getting pushed back to a mid season premiere, but at least they are a part of the crossover this time. Seems strange that they're splitting it like that instead of airing it across an entire week, but maybe it's so big, they need the extra time to do special effects or something. And I would honestly love it if they visited other Earths that were old DC TV shows, like Smallville Earth or Lois and Clark Earth. They did it with 1990 The Flash, so it's not a stretch. Oh, and it's cool that they're bundling the CW-DC shows next season. Supergirl and Batwoman on Sundays and The Flash and Arrow on Tuesdays.
And now to the non CW-DC shows...
- Star Trek: Discovery: All I can say is, thank god Discovery is now stuck in the future. The show never really worked as a prequel. But by throwing the characters in the far future, the writers are freed from having to maintain continuity and canon so now they can get really creative. It remains to be seen if the characters will meet up with Starfleet in the future or if they'll just hang around Terralysium. While it would be neat to see how the Federation and Starfleet has changed over the centuries, I kind of also want to see the crew just trying to make it on their own. Yes, it's kind of a riff on Voyager's premise, but Voyager never really leaned into the potential of its premise, so it would be nice to see it done properly.
I never really got into Ethan Peck's portrayal of Spock. It was so stiff. Spock is emotionless, but he's not a robot. I guess one could argue that the character here hasn't evolved yet into the character we know and love, but still. I did enjoy Anson Mount as Pike. I could definitely get behind a spin-off with Pike and Number One and the adventures of the Enterprise before Kirk became captain. Yes, it would be another prequel, but I think the writers could make it work.
- The Orville: Renewed for season three! It's still weird how much I like this show. I guess it's because it feels like the Star Trek show I'm used to (i.e. TNG). Season two was a definite improvement over season one. They dialled back on the stupidity of the jokes and they focused more on the characters. I'm also game for more guest spots from Star Trek alum. I laughed so hard when they had not one, but two doctors in one episode (The Doctor and Phlox).
- The Rookie: Also renewed! I watch mainly for Nathan Fillion, but it's not a bad show on its own.
iZombie and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are still going. Last season for iZombie but I'm not sure how it's going to end. Meanwhile, on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., stuff is happening, though it's not super clear why. There's also the matter of the elephant in the room:
So, is the show set post-Snap/post-Endgame? Season six is set a year after season five, which would put it a year after the Snap. However, there's no indication that Thanos wiped out half the population of Earth. No one brings it up and all of the team is conveniently still alive. So, is the show purposely ignoring the movies? You could argue season six is set during the five year gap. Just because the characters don't talk about the Snap, doesn't mean it didn't happen. One character mentions he lost his husband recently. You could interpret that as the husband turned to dust. The outdoor scenes aren't conclusive, either. There doesn't appear to be fewer people around. As for the probability that none of the main cast disappeared? Well, what are the odds that all of the original Avengers would survive?
But I think it's easier to assume that AoS now takes place in an alternative timeline where the Snap never happened. The team did do some time travelling of their own, so maybe they landed in a new timeline once they got back to the present. Maybe in this reality, Thor went for the head. Now that the multiverse seems to be a thing in the MCU, this doesn't seem that out there.
The only new show I'm interested in seeing right now is Batwoman, but honestly, I haven't seen what the other networks are offering.
