DC TV Weekly #32

Supergirl 'Reign' Review
Well what do ya know, they somehow took probably my least favourite episode of the season (The Faithful) and made it relevant. Granted, the idea that this one human religious fanatic somehow knows stuff about Krypton that an actual Kryptonian supercomputer doesn't is rather...dubious, but hey, it gave the character purpose, so I'll allow it. It also means Sam's story has finally had some relevance, I was optimistic about it as first, but as time went on it just seemed to be a generic origin story that was disconnected from the main plot. Now however, the two finally converge in the creation of the villain Reign, who is basically Krypton's Satan and boy howdy does she get one heck of an introduction. Her first real scene where she attacks a group of thugs was creatively shot in a way to actual strike dread in the audience, and her final fight scene with Supergirl was superb (Puns!). The lighting and ironic contrast with the music helped create an intense atmosphere, and the choreography showed Supergirl able to hold her own, but is very clearly outmatched, also the make-up and blood effects were probably the most visible damage we've ever seen Supergirl sustain. It's nothing gory at all, but I can't think of a time we've seen her that bruised and bloodied. They really did a good job selling the power and danger of this character, and considering Supergirl has never had a great main villain, I was rather impressed with this one. They took their time developing her, gave her a lot of great action in her change and leave it on a cliffhanger of what she's going to do after the mid-season break. Oh, there was also some stuff about James & Lena having a romance which is incredibly dumb, Carl Lumbly is back which is incredibly great, and Mon-El and his wife were...there. 8/10.

The Flash 'Don't Run' Review
Surely STAR Labs has enough resources to search for two people at once? Not to mention you have two super geniuses AND two detectives on your team. I understand the reasoning behind it as it makes for a good conundrum for our heroes to face, two of their teammates have gone missing and they can only find one of them, but it seemingly comes at the expense of logic. Also Wally is missing, again, for seemingly no reason. Oh well, a flawed set up, but with pretty good execution. Caitlin taken hostage by Amunet, a character I haven't really spoken much about, but I really like her. Katee Sackhoff is giving a delightfully over the top performance, making the character a ton of fun to watch, particularly in this episode where they also delve into her backstory, giving her a tad more depth. Likewise DeVoe still proves to be a strong villain for The Flash, giving himself a stronger new body while also framing Barry for a crime he didn't commit. Finally there is the storyline given to Caitlin, spending so long being afraid of Killer Frost and yet now apparently everyone loves her, making Caitlin feel rather obsolete. Also the image of Team Flash just hanging out with Killer Frost and having inside jokes is an image that is so funny, I desperately want to see it. But thankfully Caitlin is given a change to prove her own worth in this episode without the help of ol' Frosty. Put all that together and I think I pretty much described this episode, a flawed set-up, but with good execution. 7/10.

Legends of Tomorrow 'Beebo the God of War' Review
You think the writers of Legends reach a point where they just play madlibs to come up with their stories? "The Legends have to fight Vikings who now have a Stuffed Toy as their new god" I can't think of any other scenario where you come up with this plot. This episode starts off with a young Martin Stein being chased through a store for the hot new Christmas toy, then cuts to nice Leonard Snart trying to help the team grieve with a Martin Stein puppet (Where did he get that!?) and then we go back to young Marty who has now been captured by vikings who mistake his toy for a god...fuck it, it's Christmas, go nuts. Everything about this episode is just silly goofy fun, up until Damien Darhk shows up halfway through the episode...with no build up whatsoever. I've already said my piece about Damien, but seriously, it's like they realised the Beebo thing only gets them so far so they just throw Damien in there, it's rather jarring. Thankfully the second half is saved with some underlying emotion as Jax is finally able to grieve over the death of Martin by getting to say goodbye to his younger self, and comes to the conclusion that he himself needs to move on and leave the team. I don't know if his departure is permanent, if so I understand why, it's a good place for his story to end (Unlike Wally West who keeps getting thrown to the side). Oh, and John Constantine has an appearance, is he going to become a team member? Unlikely, but I sure am excited to see him make a return, because Matt Ryan is superb as Constantine, and you can tell the DC TV team wants any excuse possible to use him, so I look forward to his adventure. At this point you know what you're getting with Legends, if you like it when it gets super silly, this is just the episode for you, even if the second half isn't as strong, it sticks the landing with a solid arc for Jax. 7/10.

Arrow 'Irreconcilable Differences' Review
Huh, what do ya know, all those one off villains weren't...one off. Instead of having just one big villain this season, we apparently have a whole gaggle of medium villains; I guess that's different? Although this episode barely focuses on them, but rather the internal conflict between Team Arrow. Curtis begins having doubts joining the Team was the best choice for him, Rene is forced to sell them out over blackmail, Dinah kept a fairly large secret from them, and Oliver begins spying on the others, yeah, those are all good conflicts. Mind you, the thing with Rene I feel should have been established prior to this episode, or at least hinted at, as it feels like it came out of nowhere. There's also some long overdue development between Lance and Laurel, which certainly intrigues me on where that's gonna go. Also hey, Thea's actually in an episode, and actually does something, even hinting at Roy's return, which I am very excited for. Finally, I enjoy the fact that the first 10 minutes of the episode is just the team hanging out at Oliver & Felicity's reception, it makes for a refreshing change of pace seeing them in such a normal and happy situation. Summary: Good emotional conflict between the team, one off villains teaming up doesn't make for an interesting team, and out of all the mid-season finales for DC, this one feels the least impactful, so, 7/10.

-Danny