DC TV Weekly #11

Supergirl 'We Can Be Heroes' Review
I'd be lying if I said rants aren't fun, but I wish it wasn't about stuff I like. Let's talk about how within one episode James went from a useless manchild playing dress-up to an ego driven hypocritical neanderthal. The idea behind Guardian was already really stupid, some guy pretending to be Captain America in a city with Supergirl in it? It didn't even matter if he was good at it, that's like a 10 year old saying he's the best at football in his whole class while going up against David Beckham, there's no contest and you're not going to be very useful in the long run. Now he has all this distrust of Mon-El, a character he has barely shared any screentime with, and is unfairly criticising him by saying he's not ready because he screwed up on his first job-because Guardian and Supergirl never screwed up at any point!?-and then has the gumption to actually say to Supergirl's face "You do not get to decide who's a hero". Oh. But you do!? Because that's what you've been doing! You've been saying Mon-El shouldn't be a hero even though he's much more qualified for the job! And even more so, there's the motivation behind all this! James isn't doing this out of some uncontrollable desire to help people, or because he thinks he can make a difference, or because he has great power, he's said on multiple occasions that he's doing this just because it's fun! Because it makes him feel better about himself, that he feels like he has a purpose, and that is horrendous reasoning to why someone should be a superhero. Then you have the sheer stupidity of him and Winn going to fight the big bad guy on their own, and their reasoning behind it is "Show Supergirl what we can do". Because that's what all of this is about. Two stupid boys are insecure in themselves and have to prove how cool and skilled they are. Regardless of their own or other people's safety, as long as they look good. Everything Supergirl said and did in this episode and her views on who should and should not be a superhero are completely valid. Mon-El screwed up, but at least he A: Is trying to help for more than just his own ego, and B: Actually has super powers! Supergirl is not only the most powerful person in this city, but she's been doing this the longest, actually wants to help people and doesn't do any of this for glory! I am so glad that she was still disapproving of this stupid search for manhood because anyone with a brain could see how idiotic this is.
I've already gone over my word limit so I can't even talk about the rest of the episode...um...it was meh. 4/10. But James gets a 1/10.

The Flash 'Dead or Alive' Review
Well gee, what do ya know? A villain who is basically the same as the last two villains has to be defeated the exact same way, by Barry getting faster...or Wally apparently, eh, same car different paint job. Also Iris feels that in her last few months being alive she should spend her time...trying to be a big deal reporter..not, spend time with family, travel the world, but write up an article for a newspaper that people won't really care about. A month ago the world saw superheroes fighting aliens, do you really think some criminals smuggling weapons matters? Laser or not, that's just not a big deal in this world. Now to be fair, they tried to pass this off as a coping mechanism for her eventual death, which I get, knowing you're gonna die in 4 months isn't exactly something you want to think about, it would also explain her more reckless behaviour, which is actually the most Irist West-like she's ever been. Also hey, Cisco got to be the big hero of this episode, even got his own Vibe suit, it was also nice that the antagonist wasn't an actual villain, that just makes it seem even more refreshing, though I could question some of her choices, like letting a criminal charged with the death penalty be free for 24 hours unsupervised, won't most criminals take that opportunity to run--Eh, different Earth different rules, I can let it slide. 5/10.

Legends of Tomorrow 'The Legion of Doom' Review
...I guess we got answers? Or at least, acknowledgements of some questions I've had. Namely why is the Legion of Doom together? Which parts of their timeline are they from? And...You know, basically everything about them. Here, we finally get those answers in an episode that mostly focuses on them, but something about it feels...awkwardly places. Usually these are the type of facts that we get nearer the start of a story, not halfway through. Hell, it's more than halfway through, this is episode 10 of a 17 ep season. The reason why I feel it doesn't work is because, surely some of these questions are things that the characters would have asked. Why does Thrawn disappear sometimes? Why does he need Damien and Malcolm? Also where the hell is their secret base? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we got these answers, it just feels like stuff that should have been addressed weeks ago. But the Reaper Speedster thing was cool, not sure why it couldn't have been a practical effect and it contradicts the Time Wreaths in Flash, but still a neat idea.
Then there was Martin and his daughter getting a fair bit of focus, and a lot of discussion over the authenticity of their relationship, but with one big oversight. Stories like this never seem to address that the non-time travelling characters have a completely different life from the time traveller. Martin's daughter has a completely different set of memories of her father, a man that does not exist and Martin wasn't even aware he had a daughter until a few weeks ago. I really wish this story addressed that because that type of stuff can have some disturbing implications. Also, she just kind of accepts time travel and spaceships a little too quickly doesn't she? If I was in her place, i'd be freaking out pretty hard because "Oh my god! My father is part of a time travelling superhero group!". So yeah, a few seemingly missed opportunities with this B-Plot. Overall, a hit and miss episode, some late answers and an underdeveloped subplot, but a solid 5/10.

Arrow 'Second Chances' Review
God-fucking-dammit, this was your chance Arrow! This is your third Black Canary in the 5 years you've been at it, and you even named this one Dinah Drake, like you're saying "OK. This is it. The real Black Canary" and what do we get? An angsty former cop out on a revenge mission. Not the sassy, confident, sympathetic badass fighter that we all know and love, a generic stick in the mud. Just...hopefully they can fix this later on when she's a proper part of the team. Meanwhile during the B-plot, yet again, Rory is shoved to the sidelines because the guy is just too damn powerful, meaning he could fix all their problems in minutes. Oh, and Diggle is out of prison...why did they send him back there again? And flashbacks establishing Oliver's big mission with the list, seriously, Talia is gonna turn out to be Prometheus, I guarantee it. Goddamn it, couldn't we get a single DC TV show to have a good episode this week? 4/10.

-Danny