Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Arrow Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 8 - Invasion!

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.




Plot

Oliver Queen wakes up in a world where his parents are alive and well and Laurel Lance is his loving fiancee. It seems like the perfect life but something about it seems wrong somehow...

Meanwhile, Felicity and the rest of Team Arrow must deal with a new threat, with a litle help from The Flash and Supergirl.


Influences

Independence Day
(Cisco, Curtis and Caitlin attempting to hack alien technology), E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Curtis name drops the movie twice), Star Wars (Curtis refers to his translator device as The Threepio Processor in honor of the translator robot C3P-O), J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (universal translator technology, named-dropped by Cisco in describing The Dominator's ship), The Perchance To Dream episode of Batman: The Animated Series, Superman Annual #11 - "For The Man Who Has Everything", The JSA comics of Geoff Johns (Mister Terrific being an Atheist), The 1988 DC Comics crossover event Invasion and various Gardner Fox Crisis comics.


Goofs

There's a lot about the dream world that doesn't make sense. Why didn't the dream world give Diggle and Sara their perfect lives, like it did Oliver, Thea and - to a point - Ray? While John wasn't exactly unhappy as The Hood until Oliver showed up, it's hard to believe he wouldn't have Lyla or John Jr. in his life. Ditto Sara seemingly not having any role other than to revel in her sister's happiness.  Were The Dominators too cheap to generate each of the heroes their own perfect world? Was the confusion meant to prolong their time in the dream world as their minds were read? Why bother with hostile memories which threatened the reality of the dream world? And why bother having a portal out of the dream world in the first place?

When did Cisco get a piece of the Dominator's ship? (Possibly a scene that was cut for time?)

Why has Wild Dog's sudden hatred of super-powered people never come up regarding the guy wearing the magical costume made of rags who is on his team?

The villain of the week is beaten far too easy and serves no purpose other than to give Supergirl and The Flash a chance to show off.

Why does the dream world create ghosts of two people who haven't died - Felicity and Roy Harper - as Ollie is about to leave? (I know this was the only way they could give Roy Harper an appearance in the episode, but it doesn't make sense in the logic of the world.)

Cisco says that geographical coordinates don't have negative numbers. In fact, negative numbers are used to note areas south of the equator in latitude and west of the prime meridian in longitude.


Performances

Stephen Amell gives one of his best performances ever, trying to say good-bye to the parents he lost as he breaks away from a perfect world.  It gets even better later on, opposite Willa Holland, as she makes a convincing case for staying in the dream world and allowing themselves to be happy for once. It's a heartbreaking moment and a great performance for both actors.


Artistry

The editing team did a fantastic job of patching together the various clips for the flashback sequences.

The special effects for the Flash and Supergirl vs. Dr. Washington fight are top-notch.


Trivia

As the title suggests, the main inspiration for this four-part crossover event between all of the DCTVU shows was the 1988 crossover event Invasion!

Invasion! 
was based around the idea that an alliance of alien worlds - led by The Dominators - attacked Earth due to their concerns that Earth's growing metahuman population would become a threat to their planets.

The Dominators in the original comics had yellow skin, a red circle in the middle of their foreheads, claw-like fingernails and sharp fang-like teeth.

The DCTVU version of The Dominators resemble the comic-book counterpart for the most part, save that their skin is more grey than yellow. Also, they do not wear clothing, which the comic book Dominators did.

This episode was the 100th episode of Arrow.

This episode was the third part of a four-part crossover between all of The CW Network's DC Comics superhero shows.

The story for this episode greatly resembles the plot of Perchance To Dream - an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. In that episode, Bruce Wayne finds himself in a world where his parents are alive, Selina Kyle is his fiancee and he is no longer Batman, though he starts to have feelings that he was Batman after seeing Batman in the street. He eventually realizes he's in an illusion - one crafted by The Mad Hatter to give him a perfect life.

In this episode,Oliver Queen's parents are both alive and he is about to be married to Laurel Lance. He is no longer Green Arrow, but has visions of being Green Arrow after having an encounter with The Hood in the street. He eventually realizes he's an illusion - one crafted by The Dominators to keep him distracted.

There are a number of other common plot-beats between the two shows, including the search for an entrance to a hidden superhero hideout, an attempt to unmask one's own superhero alter ego and an incongruous building (a clock tower in Perchance To Dream, the Smoak Electronics building in Invasion!) leading to the way out of the dream world.

The story for this episode also resembles the classic Alan Moore Superman story For The Man Who Has Everything. In that comic, Superman falls prey to a parasitic plant called The Black Mercy that causes its host to hallucinate their perfect world as the plant feasts upon their body.  As in that story, any attempt to resist the reality created by The Black Mercy results in the dream world attacking the host or the host's loved ones appearing and begging them not to leave them.

Oliver name-drops the story, saying at one point that "he has everything."

For The Man Who Has Everything was adapted for the Supergirl TV series in S113 - For The Girl Who Has Everything.

In the comics, Oliver Queen had his own encounter with a Black Mercy plant in Green Lantern (Volume 4) #7 and #8. In that story, both Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen were attacked by a Black Mercy that primarily focused on Hal Jordan, creating a perfect world for Oliver Queen based on what Hal thought Ollie's perfect world would be like. Oliver Queen saw through the illusion and as able to break both of them free of the dream world. Something similar happens here, with John Diggle and Sara Lance both realizing there's something wrong with the supposedly perfect reality they are part of.

Curtis Holt expresses reservations about the idea of a divine plan that includes space monsters. This is a nod to the JSA comics where Mister Terrific was a staunch atheist despite working with colleagues who claimed to have powers granted by divine and magical sources.

In the dream world, Malcolm Merlyn says that Tommy Merlyn couldn't make it to the wedding because he's working triple-shifts in his new job as a doctor in Chicago. This is a nod to how actor Colin Donnell - who played Tommy Merlyn in the first season of Arrow - is now playing the role of Dr. Connor Rhodes on Chicago Med, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Fire and was unable to do a cameo in this episode due to his busy schedule.

Felicity tracks the location of Team Arrow to -3.127 Latitude, - 23.7987 Longitude. This indicates somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean... or above it.


Technobabble

The first attempt to hack the Dominator technology fails because the team tried to plug human technology into a Dominator power source. This caused a power overload, which requires them to find a regulator.

Van Horn industries developed a prototype regulator for NASA. It was perfected, but it was stolen by a Dr. Laura Washington - a scientist who has been augmenting her body with various stolen electronic implants. The implants give her enhanced strength, stamina and electricity-based powers.

The martial art Sara uses to fight Deathstroke in the dream world is Jeet Kune Do - a hybrid martial art heavily influenced by the martial arts philosophy of Bruce Lee.

Rory Regan identifies the "soup" created by Curtis' translator as Gamatria - a Kabbalistic method of interpreting the Hebrew scriptures by computing the numerical value of words, based on those of their constituent letters. In Hebrew, each letter has a numerical value. Gamatria is the calculation of the numerical equivalents of letters, words or phrases.

Felicity tracks the location of Team Arrow to -3.127 Latitude, - 23.7987 Longitude. This indicates somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Ray examines the technology The Dominators were using to keep them under and determined it used a neuromorphic interface similar to what he used to control the ATOM suit. This means The Dominators may have been probing their subconscious for intel while the shared hallucination kept their minds occupied. Ray further theorizes that the five of them (Sara, Diggle, Thea, Oliver and himself) were abducted because they were ordinary humans.

Gideon translates "Klic-Clac-To Nick-Lava Shack-too" to "We are nearing completion of the weapon."


Dialogue Triumphs

Curtis: I feel like Elliot in E.T. - "It's working! It's working!"
Cisco: Your tech guy quotes movie, huh?
Felicity: Yeah.
Cisco: Reeeeal original.

The Flash: What's your damage, man?
Wild Dog: My damage is that people like you two have the power of gods yet you think you can make the world a better place just by putting on a fancy costume.
Supergirl: No! We... we think we make the world a better place because, well... well, we do!

Ollie: These head games aren't over. They are going to push back against whatever we do.
John: Push back? Like how?
(Oliver looks to one side, where Deathstroke emerges from the bushes, twirling a sword.)
Ollie: Like that.

(Sara Lance catches Deathstrike's sword arm, disarms him and runs him through with his own sword. She then looks down in astonishment, holding the katana in a defensive kata whilst in her bridesmaid dress.)
Sara: How did I do that?

Thea: It's too bad Tommy couldn't make it, though.
Merlyn: Well, they've got him working triple shifts at the hospital these days. Besides, Chicago isn't exactly next door.
Thea: I can't believe he's a doctor now.
Merlyn: Well, he says the same thing about you, Miss Entrepreneur.
Thea: I don't think running Verdant makes me an entrepreneur.
Merlyn: No, but it makes you successful. Your father should be very proud of the woman you've grown into.

(Moira and Robert Queen try to talk Ollie into getting ready for the wedding.)
Moira: This is your life now.
(Oliver sighs and steadies himself.)
Oliver: No, it isn't.
(Oliver hugs Moira tightly.)
Moira:
Oliver?
(Oliver moves to hug his father, fighting back the tears.)
Oliver: I'm so... I'm sorry.
(Oliver lets go of Robert and walks to where Thea and Sara are standing in one corner of the room.)
Oliver: Speedy...
Sara: She knows, Ollie. She knows and she doesn't want to go!
Thea: The better question is why would you want to?
Sara: Because none of this is real.
Thea: It's real enough, ok? (tearing up) It's - it's better than our real lives. In -in this life, Laurel is alive. My parents are alive...
Sara: But those are not your parents!
Thea: They remember the only lullaby that would actually work to put me to sleep. They remember every day of my life, okay? They even smell like them, Ollie!
Oliver: They're not them, Thea. I want them to be. But they're not. (To Sara) Where are John and Ray?
Sara: They're waiting outside.
Oliver: Give us a few minutes.
(Sara nods and heads for the exit.)
Oliver: We can't stay here, Speedy. No matter how much we want to, we can't.
Thea: Why not? What is waiting for us wherever we are right now? Nothing. Nothing but pain and suffering.
Oliver: Thea, we have responsibilities. We have people who count on us.
Thea: There's Flash and Supergirl and people with actual powers now. Whatever needs to be done, they can handle it. We - we finally have a chance to be happy. I mean, why - why can't you just for a second accept that maybe this is your reward for all the sacrifices you have made?
Oliver: I didn't make those sacrifices for a reward Thea. I did what I did because I thought it was right. And seeing all this... it has just... it has shown me that there is so much more to do. So please - I'm begging you to come with me because I cannot do it alone.
Thea: But... I can't lose them again. I can't lose my family.
(Oliver just stares at her but finally nods.)
Oliver: Okay. Okay. All right.
(Ollie hugs her)
Oliver: I want you to be well. I want you to be happy. I love you, Thea.
(Ollie lets go of her and leaves, leaving Thea alone.)



Dialogue Disasters

Wild Dog: Super powers are evil, man. And I don't want anything to do with them. Or with either of you.

Wild Dog: If super powers are a thing, it's good that there are guys like you to help the world.


Continuity

The episode opens with a scene of Oliver running through the woods on the Queen Manor estate. This mirrors the opening shot in the first episode, where Oliver was seen running through the forest on Lian Yu.

Rory tells the rest of Team Arrow that Felicity called him and told him that Oliver, Thea and Diggle had been abducted by aliens. This happened in F308.

When introduced to Rory Regan, Cisco says that makes him the second Rory he knows and the first one that isn't a douche. This is a reference to Mick Rory a.k.a. Heatwave.

Cisco uses his Vibe powers on one of Oliver's old broken bows to locate him. This gives him a vision of Oliver and company in some kind of statsis pod in some kind of alien environment.

Wild Dog has a hatred of metahumans. For some reason, it doesn't seem to apply to Ragman.

In the dream world, Thea gives Oliver a hozen as a gift before the wedding rehearsal dinner. This is the same arrowhead neclace that Oliver gave Thea in the first episode,

In the dream world, Robert Queen has just been elected mayor of Starling City and Oliver is supposed to take over Queen Consolidated when he takes office in two months.

In the dream world, Star City it is still called Starling City.

Oliver suggests Walter Steele take over as CEO instead of him. In the original universe, Walter Steele did take over Queen Consolidated after Robert Queen's death and married Moira Queen.

Oliver briefly has visions of his father's death and the sinking of The Queen's Gambit from the first episode,

Oliver briefly has a vision of Laurel as she appeared before she died in the hospital in 418.

In the dream world, Quentin Lance is still a Captain in the CCPD and he likes Oliver Queen.

Oliver briefly has visions of his establishing his first Arrow-cave and confronting Quentin for the first time as The Hood in the first episode,

Looking at a map of Starling City, Oliver briefly has visions of his campaign for Mayor of Star City during Season Four and the secret passageway to The Bunker in his campaign headquarters.

Sara Lance claims to only like girls. This may be a side-effect of The Flashpoint Reality because she had been bisexual during the first four seasons of Arrow and the first season of Legends of Tomorrow.

In the dream world, Ray Palmer is a business associate of Robert Queen, who is trying to put in a bid to take over Queen Consolidated. He is engaged to Felicity Smoak, though he has memories about his fiancee being a woman named Anna.

Both Sara Lance and Ray Palmer have visions of each other and their time together on The Waverider when they "meet for the first time" at the rehearsal dinner. The scenes of their visions include their first time riding on The Waverider together (L101), the two walking down a street in 1940s New York (L201) and a fight in the League of Assassin's headquarters (L109).

A Merlyn Global Group building is visible in the Starling City skyline.

While being strangled by The Hood, Oliver has visions of his meeting John Diggle (101), Diggle angrily driving after Ollie snuck off (102) agreeing to take him on as a partner (104), the two of them eating at Big Belly Burger together (103), John's wedding to Lyla Hall (317), the death of Andy Diggle (420) and John Diggle calling Oliver his brother (407).

Oliver also has visions of Felicity Smoak. The visions depict the first time he saw her (103), their first date (301), their first kiss (301), their first time making love (320), her near death at the hands of Damien Darhk's men (409) and their fake wedding (416).

In the dream world, John Diggle is The Hood and is working with Felicity Smoak out of The Bunker. He says he became The Arrow after returning from serving in the 105th Airborne out of Kandahar. He did things he wasn't proud of and came home to atone for his actions.

In the dream world, Andy Diggle is still alive and working in personal security.

While hugging Moira Queen, Thea has a vision of Moira's death from 220.

Diggle makes reference to a Russian lady downstairs when he intrudes on Oliver and Laurel. This is a reference to Rasia - a house-keeper in the Queen household staff, first seen in 101,who apparently did more to raise Oliver Queen than his mother did.

The creature that Diggle draws from one of his dream flashes is a Dominator.

Sara Lance knows Jeet Kune Do.

Sara Lance has a vision of the battle between The Flash and Green Arrow vs. The rest of The Legends and Team Arrow from F308. She also remembers Oliver, Thea, Diggle, Ray and herself being abducted by The Dominators.

In the dream world, Tommy Merlyn apparently moved to Chicago after getting his medical degree.

In the dream world, Thea is still running the night club Verdant.

Oliver has another vision from the first episode, after his father uses the phrase "that is not going to finish well".

The Smoak Technologies building was first seen in the Star City of 2046 in L106.

In escaping the Queen Estate, Ollie, Diggle, Sara, Thea and Ray must fight Merlyn, Deathstroke, Wintergreen, several of Eddie Fyer's mercenaries from Lian Yu and Damien Darhk.

Before leaving the dream world, Oliver has visions of various friends and family, who speak lines about who he really is and how much they meant to him. These include Moria Queen calling Oliver "her beautiful boy" and saying "she could not be more proud" (220), Felicity Smoak saying you honor the dead by fighting and that Oliver is not done fighting (222), Tommy Merlyn saying he was wrong to call Ollie a murderer and saying that he is a hero (123), Roy Harper telling Ollie that he saved his life and gave him purpose (212) and how this time they had to save him (319), Laurel saying that she knows who Oliver is in her bones - a person who doesn't give up (221) and Robert Queen telling Oliver that "It's your responsibility now."(101)

Nate Heywood picks up Sara, Ray, Thea, Diggle and Oliver in The Waverider. He was given their coordinates by Felicity.

Ray examine the technology The Dominators were using to keep them under and determined it used a neuromorphic interface similar to what he used to control the ATOM suit. This means The Dominators may have been probing their subconscious for intel while the shared hallucination kept their minds occupied. Ray further theorizes that the five of them (Sara, Diggle, Thea, Oliver and himself) were abducted because they were ordinary humans.

Gideon translates "Klic-Clac-To Nick-Lava Shack-too" to "We are nearing completion of the weapon." Gideon further determines that the Dominator ship is moving straight for Earth.


Location

A Dominator spaceship in orbit above the Earth.



Untelevised Adventures

Cisco somehow got a piece of alien technology off of the Dominator ship that crashed in Central City. This did not happen in F308.


The Winick Factor

The subplot with Wild Dog's hatred of people with super powers comes out of nowhere, doesn't make any sense given the presence of Ragman on the same team and is far too quickly resolved.


The Bottom Line

In looking back at Arrow's past, this 100th episode reminds us of many things best forgotten. For every novel touch (i.e. the wink and nod explanation as to Tommy Merlyn's absence referencing Colin Donnell's new gigs), there are glaring absences (i.e. no Manu Bennett as Deathstroke?) and a lot of plot holes regarding how the shared dream world works. Katie Cassidy still cannot convey any emotion but annoyance convincingly and fails to emote even when offered a script that requires her to do nothing but look sexy in a towel or look sad in a wedding dress.

Despite this, the dream sequence might have worked had the whole episode been focused on it, but the cuts back to reality and the crossover only serve to distract from the drama of Sara, Oliver and Thea having to pull themselves away from their loved ones. The subplot with Wild Dog suddenly hating people with powers only to change his mind after The Flash and Supergirl save him is nearly as lame as the villain of the week. Overall, this whole episode is a bit of a mess, made tolerable only by the excellent performances of the core ensemble in the dream sequence.

Starman Plays The Pandora Directive (Lombard Street) - Part 8

In which we return to the secret NSA office at AutoTech to do a little burglary. We also finally have a talk with the mysterious Regan about Thomas Malloy's work and uncover the first two pieces of The Pandora Device!


Tuesday, November 29, 2016

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 8 - Invasion!

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.





Plot

When a group of aliens called The Dominators attack Central City, Barry speeds over to Star City to ask Team Arrow for help in fighting the invaders. When it becomes apparent that the battle is bigger than they thought, Ollie summons The Legends as Barry and Cisco recruit Supergirl as a secret weapon. Once the team is assembled, however, a secret regarding The Flashpoint Reality leaves the assembled team wondering who they can truly trust. At the same time, Wally West is itching to join the battle despite the reservations of everyone else on Team Flash.


Influences

The 1988 DC Comics crossover event Invasion!, various Gardner Fox Crisis comics, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (The opening with Green Arrow and The Flash pinned down resembles the final stand-off in this movie), EPCOT Center (HR's ideas for opening STAR Labs to the public sound like some of the scientific attractions),the film Alien (Barry and Cisco both refer to the movie in describing the appearance of The Dominators), the film World War Z (Barry refers to the zombies from this movie in describing how The Dominators move), the Superfriends cartoon series (the hangar/hall where the teams meet resembles the Hall of Justice) and the film Independence Day (general alien invasion plot, direct involvement of the American President).


Performances


The whole ensemble is giving it their all. It's hard to single out any one particular performance as exceptional in the face of that and the way all the characters are played off of one another. Among the best moments are...

* Team Flash's responses to HR's presentation on turning STAR Labs into an EPCOT style attraction.
* Cisco and Ray bonding over the rebuilt ATOM suit.
* Ray telling Barry about how Captain Cold died a Legend.
* Wally and HR with the former trying to convince the later to train him.
* Martin Stein and Caitlin Snow discussing how power can change you but it doesn't have to control you.
* Sara reading Barry the riot act over his altering the past to benefit himself.
* Every bit of Mick interacting with Supergirl and Sara's face-palming listening to it.
* Ollie's speech to Barry about how everyone would do what he did if they thought it would save their parents.


Artistry


The script does a fantastic job of giving all the assembled cast something to do, however briefly, and delivers the pay-off to a lot of on-going subplots from The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow.

The choreography for all the fight scens are fantastic, but the stand out is Oliver Queen vs. Sara Lance - the closest thing we're likely to see to a Green Arrow vs. Black Canary fight in live-action anytime soon.

The best special effects sequence? Barry's high-speed fight against Supergirl.


Flash Facts

This episode was the second part of a four-part crossover between all of The CW Network's DC Comics superhero shows.

As the title suggests, the main inspiration for this four-part crossover event between all of the DCTVU shows was the 1988 crossover event Invasion!

Invasion!
was based around the idea that an alliance of alien worlds - led by The Dominators - attacked Earth due to their concerns that Earth's growing metahuman population would become a threat to their planets.

The general structure of the episode also mirrors the many Crisis comics by Justice League of America writer Gardner Fox, who routinely teamed the heroes of multiple parallel worlds against threats they could not face alone.

When Lyla says that the US Government has known about The Dominators since the 1950s, Joe mentions an incident in Redmond, Oregon that the government tried to cover up. This is a reference to a famous real-world UFO report that was debunked by the United States Air Force.

The Dominators in the original comics had yellow skin, a red circle in the middle of their foreheads, claw-like fingernails and sharp fang-like teeth.

The Dominators in the DCTVU look very much like their comic book counteparts, except for the fact that the comic book Dominators wore clothing and the DCTVU Dominators appear more grey-skinned than yellow-skinned.

The "hall hangar thing" where Barry has Team Arrow, Team Flash and The Legends meet resembles The Hall of Justice from the classic Superfriends cartoon.

Cisco reveals that Supergirl's Earth is Earth 38 under his cataloging system.

In the DC Universe, Earth 38 is the setting of the Elseworlds series Superman/Batman: Generations, which is set on a world where Superman first appeared in 1938, Batman first appeared in 1939 and both heroes established a legacy passed from parent to child that lasted for over 1000 years.

Thea says that Barry described Kara as "more powerful than a locomotive". This is a direct quote from the introduction to the 1940s Superman radio show and the 1950s Adventures of Superman TV show - "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!"


Technobabble


Wally West's current maximum speed is Mach 2  (1,552.4 MPH)

Wally's running economy and lactate threshold are all way above expected levels.

The Dominator ship that lands in Central City has some form of force-field that forces Barry back from their ship when he touches it.

The taychon device Barry wore to boost his speed when he accidentally traveled to Supergirl's Earth tracked him to Earth 38.

The Dominators have some form of mind-control technology. It is dependent on broadcast signals but is too strong for even STAR Labs technology to jam. The targets also have to be brought within a line-of-sight range of the broadcast equipment in order to be dominated.


Dialogue Triumphs


(The Flash and Green Arrow take cover behind an stone wall)
Green Arrow: You really did it this time, Barry!
The Flash: Seriously?!
Green Arrow: Yeah! Yeah! Yeah, seriously! You come to Star City! You ask for my help! And then inevitably, immediately, we end up the creek!
The Flash: ... Okay. That's fair.
(There is an explosion, close by.)
The Flash: 
There're moving in.
Green Arrow: (sarcastically) On three, Team Leader.
(A blue blast of light suddenly rips through the wall between them.)
Green Arrow: What's that?
The Flash: (flatly) That would be heat vision.
Green Arrow: Three!
The Flash: Okay.
(The two run around the corner to find themselves starring down Speedy, Spartan, The Canary, Heatwave, The Atom, Firestorm and Supergirl.)

(Team Flash is discussing how to keep Wally from trying to play hero with his powers.)
Caitlin: We're going to have a hard time convincing him not to use them.
Iris: Yeah, well we have to. Until he is ready.
Joe: (laughing as he gestures to Wally running around the speed lab track) How?
Iris: By convicing him that he isn't. That means no encouraging him, no training him and you - (looking at Cisco) no talking to him about a suit. Please. It's for his own good.
Cisco: (scoffs) Why the hell not? It's just abother lie between friends, right?

(Thea just learned about why Barry came to Star City for help.)
Thea: Count me in!
Ollie: For what? I thought you retired?
Thea; Yeah, but... it's aliens!

(Team Arrow and Team Flash meet at a familiar looking facility)
Thea: What is this place?
Barry: It's this old hall... hanger... thing that STAR Labs owns. Or, I guess, I own it.
Thea: Well, you should do something with it.

(Team Arrow and Team Flash watching the Waverider shuttle land.)
Diggle: (deadpan) You know why I've never done drugs? It's because I was always afraid I'd see weird stuff.

(Barry, Cisco and Kara emerge from the breach before the rest of The Legends, Team Arrow and Team Flash.)
Barry: Guys! Thanks for coming!
Ollie: Barry, I thought you were bringing an alien?
Barry: And - yeah - we did. Everybody, this is my friend Kara Danvers. Or as she's known on her Earth, Supergirl.
Jax: What makes her so super?
Barry: Well...?
(Barry turns to Kara, dumfounded. Kara flies up over the crowd and her eyes flash blue, burning a S-shield into the concrete between everyone. She smiles modestly.)
Diggle: I'm convinced.

Ollie: We should use Kara as a stand-in for training.
Mick: Since when is Robin Hood calling the shots?
(Ollie shoots Mick a glare.)
Jax: What I think Mick is trying to say is it would be nice if we knew who was in charge around here.
Ray: Maybe we should take a vote? Choose a leader. Someone we can all trust.
Cisco: Well, I trust Oliver. He's got my vote.
(Iris throws a glare at Cisco.)
Ollie: Appreciate that, Cisco, but Barry put us all together. It should be him.
(Barry looks at Ollie stunned. Ollie just nods at him.)
Cisco: (cooly) Fair enough.
Barry: Okay - um... (stammering a bit) I guess as Team Leader,  First thing to do is.. uh.. is start out by... ummm... ahhhh.
Ollie: (quietly) Doing a test run.
Barry: Let's do a test run! Yeah! Let's do a test run. Uhhhhh...
Ollie: (quietly) Against Supergirl.
Barry: Against Supergirl! All right! Test run against Supergirl!
Sara: (pointing to Ollie) Are we just supposed to play like we don't hear him?
(Thea and Diggle both smirk.)

(Barry has just confessed to changing the past to try and bring his parents back to life.)
Sara: You can't go back and just change things like that, Barry!
Barry: I know.
Sara: You know how hard it is for me not to alter events? To bring my sister back?  But I don't! Because I know the implications!
Ray: And all those abberations we spent the last eight months traveling through time, trying to correct - you just decided it was okay to create your own.
Jax: We should have told them before...
Felicity: Guys? Guys, it's Lyla! The President has been abducted by The Dominators! She needs us now!
Barry: (sighs) Okay. You guys go. Allright? I'm gonna sit this one out. Obviously. You have Supergirl. She's just as fast as I am. Get The President. We can talk about this later.
(Everyone gets up and starts moving to get ready.)
Barry: (walking up to Kara) You still trust me, right?
Supergirl: I'll always trust you, but... it might take more to convince them.
Barry: If you need me, I'll be there.
Ollie: Guys! This is ca- hey!
(Everyone else stops.)
Ollie: This is crazy! Everyone is going, including Barry! I'm not going without him.
Diggle: Then you'll be here, Oliver.

Kara: Yep. He's in there.
Mick: How do you know that?
Kara: I can see him. (realizing she didn't explain all of her powers) Oh! I have X-Ray vision.
Mick: Oh! (grinning wickedly) You can see everyone's bits with those little peepers, huh?
Kara: (embarassed) No, I...
Sara: Ignore him.
Kara: How did you get the name Heatwave?
Mick: I burned my family alive and I like to light things on fire.
Kara: (stunned) Ah. Well, that's a... colorful backstory.
Mick: Well, my shrink thinks so. By the way, I'm not going to call you Supergirl. It's stupid.
Kara: You could call me Kara.
Mick: That won't work either.
Kara: Well, what are you going to shout if you need my help?
Mick: Skirt.
Thea; (snorting) Seriously?
Mick: Seriously. But I'm not gonna need your help.

(Later, as the Dominators activate their mind-control technology.)

Mick: Supergirl! Do something!

Ollie: Barry, you made a choice. You wanted to see your parents alive again. Do you honestly know anyone that, if they were in your shoes, wouldn't do the exact same thing? I would do the exact same thing! Barry, after The Gambit went down, it was me, my father and a crew member on a life raft. Lost at sea. Enough food and water for one person. Maybe. My father took a gun, shot the crew member, told me to survive and then turned the gun on himself. He shot himself in the head. He sacrificed himself so that I could live! Nothing I could do. No choice. Slade Wilson drove a sword right through my mothers' heart, in front of my sister and I. I was there. I was helpless on the ground. I was powerless to stop it. No choice. Do you not think that I wouldn't give anything to go back and to make things different?!
Barry: You never told me that...
Ollie: Barry, the world isn't different because you changed the timeline. Change happens. Tragedy happens. People make choices and those choices affect everyone else. You're not a god, Barry.

(Supergirl recovers from the mind-control.)
Kara: What happened?
Barry: (laughing) You didn't kill me, so my day's looking up.
Kara: I'm so sorry.
Barry: Hey. You're not the first superhero to be mind-controlled.


Continuity


The opening scene takes place 10 hours after the next scene in the STAR Labs Speed Lab.

HR plans to open STAR Labs up to the public. This will include a personal transportation tour of the facility and a a virtual-reality alternative for the faint-of-heart. Both will include something he calls "particle vision" - a moment-to-moment reinactment of the particle accelerator explosion from the perspective of the particle.

A Channel 52 reporter is seen on the site of the Dominator ship landing.

According to Lyla, the US Government has known about The Dominators since 1951. They landed on Earth, abducted some humans to gather intel, ignored all attempts at communication and killed hundreds of soldiers before inexplicably leaving.

The Dominators sent a message to the Department of Defense three months earlier saying they were only coming to Earth to seek understanding of something and warning against attacking them.

Barry saves Green Arrow and Spartan from being shot by Vigilante. Vigilante is an enemy of Team Arrow, who the team was seen fighitng in A507
As in previous encounters, Spartan throws up after being forcibly moved at super speed.

Thea Queen dons her Speedy costume for the first time since A501.

Cisco reveals that Supergirl's Earth is Earth 38 under his cataloging system.

Before leaving, Cisco says it may take him a few tries to open a breech to Earth 38. Breeches briefly appeared in two different scenes during S208 - once at the Danvers' family Thanksgiving dinner and once as Supergirl was fighting Cyborg Superman.

The scene where Barry and Cisco teleport to Supergirl's apartment is precisely the same as the final scene of S208.

Barry refers to the events of S118 and how Supergirl promised to help him if he ever needed it.

Nate and Amaya - Steel and Vixen - do not appear in this episode. Sara Lance says they were left behind to watch The Waverider. This leaves only Canary, Heatwave, Firestorm and The Atom of The Legends joining this adventure.

Iris did not know Oliver Queen was Green Arrow until this episode. She thinks Ollie is hot, much to Barry's annoyance.

There are Dominators in Supergirl's universe as well. She knows from stories that Dominators are increidbly strong, that they came to Krypton once before she was born, did experiments on a lot of people and killed a lot more.

In the wake of losing his ATOM suit in L203, Ray Palmer has rebuilt it using a new supply of dwarf star alloy he accquired in The Wild West in L206 and using the clothing replicator on The Waverider to rebuild most of the clothing parts of the suit. Cisco suggests revising the suit again together - an idea that Ray agrees to once the current crisis is over.

Ray Palmer tells Barry about Len Snart's heroic death in L115.

Professor Stein and Jax reveal the message to Rip Hunter from the Barry Allen of 2056 that they discovered in L203 to Barry and Oliver.

The message warns that a war is coming and that the Barry Allen of 2016 willl summon The Legends to fight it. The message continues to describe how while The Legends were in The Temporal Zone, The Barry Allen of 2016 made a choice that altered the time line and changed the lives of all The Legends. He advises them that when they return to 2016 it will be to the newly created timeline rather than the 2016 they left and that they should not trust anyone or anything - not even the 2016 Barry Allen. Barry believes this to be a reference to Flashpoint.

The only changes Barry is aware of thus far are Cisco's brother is dead, Caitlin has ice powers, Wally has super-speed and John Diggle's baby daughter Sara is now a baby son named John.

Ollie advises Barry not to tell the rest of the team about the changes caused by Flashpoint yet.

Supergirl is able to hold her own against Canary, Speedy, Spartan, Heatwave and The Atom at the same time.

Wally is smart enough to interpet the various STAR Labs computers used to chart his speed and physical condition and figure out that everyone is lying to him.

Wally refers to the events in The Flashpoint reality in 301 and how he and Iris were a crime-fighitng team in that world.

Wally asks HR to train him in developing his powers. At the episode's end, HR agrees.

It is revealed that the woman Professor Stein has been having visions of since L206 is his daughter. In the original timeline, he and his wife never had any children.

Cisco discovers the recording from Future Barry and demands Barry tell the rest of the team about it.

Ray says The Legends have spent eight months repairing time abberations.

The Dominators abduct the US President. He is later killed as he was only bait to lure as many superheroes as possible into a trap so they could be mind controlled.

The future newspaper from April 25, 2024 - first seen in 101 - still shows The Flash disappearing during some kind of Crisis. The article has been changed, however, to be written by Julie Greer rather than Iris West-Allen.

Ollie tells Barry about how his father killed himself to give Ollie a chance at survival (as seen in the flashbacks in A101) and how Slade Wilson killed his mother in front of him (as seen in A220).

At the end of the episode, Sara Lance, Thea Queen, Ray Palmer, John Diggle and Oliver Queen are abducted by The Dominators.


Location

Supergirl's apartment in National City on Earth 38.


The Bottom Line


Perfect. A true comic-book story line expertly adapted for the small-screen. The gold standard by which all future superhero shows will be judges.

Starman Plays Skyrim Special Edition - Part 9

In which we prove our worth to the people of Whiterun and set off on the road to High Hrothgar!


Injustice: Ground Zero #9 - A Review

Batman's big plan is in motion and Harley and her gang are still stuck on the sidelines. Luckily, Harley knows just what to do to get back into Batman's good graces. Unluckily (for Billy Batson, at least), her plan to steal back The Batmobile from Wayne Manor requires her going through Shazam!


I know I dote upon this series' humor but it truly is one of its best features. This issue easily has the funniest dialogue in Ground Zero to date. More importantly, Brian Buccellato and Chris Sebela continue to show a masterful understanding of Harley Quinn's character and the fact that Harley only plays dumb.


The humor extends into the artwork, with Injustice: Gods Among Us artists Tom Derenick and  J. Nanjan returning for this week's issue. J. Nanjan delivers a masterful performance on the coloring, as always. Derenick draws great expressions and takes full advantage of the comedic script to deliver cartoonishly hilarious images of Harley being electrocuted or licking Shazam's nose cutely. I also love the quick sight gag of Batgirl playing Mortal Kombat.

Monday, November 28, 2016

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 8 - Medusa

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.



Plot

Eliza Danvers is in town for Thanksgiving and Alex struggles with how to come out to her. Kara's foster mom thinks Mon-El might be sweet on Kara, but Supergirl has bigger problems than finding romance when Cadmus releases an alien-killing virus on National City! Kara thinks she can turn to Lena Luthor for help, but can Lena be trusted to work against her own mother? And how will Kara respond when Barry Allen arrives looking for help with a crisis on his Earth?


Influences

Various works of medical science-fiction dealing with pandemics (i.e. Outbreak), the New 52 Supergirl comics (Zor-El being a maker of biological weapons) and the many Crisis comics of Gardner Fox, where the heroes of multiple parallel Earths (usually the JSA & JLA) joined together to deal with threats to both their worlds.


Goofs

Why is The Medusa Virus known by that name? Does the word Medusa mean something different in Kryptonese than it does in Greek? It just seems like the name would be used for a virus that caused petrification rather than a suffocating death.

How the heck did Cyborg Superman and Lillian Luthor learn about the existence of The Medusa Project in the first place if the only place that had records of it was The Fortress of Solitude computer?

Given the ease with which Hank Henshaw escapes from L-Corp, it's clear The NCPD Science Police suck at establishing cordons.

Lena's speech to Supergirl about thinking she was different than her cousin flies in the face of everything we know about Lena's relationship with her mother based on the scene earlier in the episode and serves only to add artificial drama when it seems Lena is helping her mother later.

If Lena switched the Isotope 454 with a fake formula, why does Winn's radioscopic scanner detect it being moved?


Artistry

The script does a fantastic job of establishing a common theme through all its subplots regarding parents, children and their mutual expectations (i.e. Alex feeling like she's letting her mom down somehow, Kara being disappointed in her father's creating biological weapons, Lena's issues with her adoptive mother). Shame the episode was already crowded, because we could have done with James talking about living up to the legacy of his soldier father and Winn rebelling against his criminal father's legacy as well.


Super Trivia


This episode was the first part of a four-part crossover between all of The CW Network's DC Comics superhero shows.

A disoriented Mon-El asks Kara if she developed the power to create duplicates of herself when he starts experiencing double-vision. This is an ability belonging to the people of the alien world of Cargg. One of them - Luornu Durgo - was the fourth hero to join The Legion of Superheroes and the first non-founding member of the team. She used the names Triplicate Girl, Triad, Una, Duo Damsel, Duplicate Damsel and Duplicate Girl.


Technobabble


Alex says she's never encountered any biological weapon that can target only alien physiology while leaving humans unharmed.

The Medusa Virus isn't transmittable through physical contact or from organism to organism. One has to come in contact with a weaponized aerosol.

Eliza Danvers determines The Medusa Virus is Kryptonian based on one protein strand she isolates from Mon-El's blood.

Project Medusa was a weaponized virus created by Zor-El in order to defend Krypton from alien invaders. It was engineered to attack the physiology of alien combatants while sparring Kryptonian civilians and soldiers.

Kryptonians and Daxamites share similar DNA.

The Medusa Virus requires a dispersal agent not available on Earth. There is an analogous element - Isotope 454 - which is incredibly rare and manufactured only by L-Corp.

Winn uses a radiological alarm to track the unique radiation signature of Isotope 454 and warn him if the stockpile at L-Corp is being moved.


Dialogue Triumphs


Mon-El: (To Eliza Danvers) Kara tells me that you are a brilliant scientist. That must be riveting. I have to hear about this science. What is science?

(Lillian Luthor walks into Lena's office. Lena is sitting at her desk, with a half-empty glass of wine and a plate that appears to hold all the trappings of a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner..)
Lillian Luthor: This is quite a depressing sight.
Lena Luthor: I'm used to celebrating holiday weekends alone at my desk.
Lillian Luthor: Overworking does run in the family.
Lena Luthor: And now I know you're in the holiday spirit. Usually that kind of thought is followed by the back-stabbing jibe about how I'm not really a Luthor. (pauses)You never let me forget that I'm adopted. When it comes to your children, Lex was always your favorite.
Lillian Luthor: And you were always your father's.
Lena Luthor: You sound almost jealous.
Lillian Luthor: You shouldn't take it all so personally. No parent truly loves their children equally and... though maybe I loved Lex more, I do love you, Lena. In my own way.
Lena Luthor: Well... now that we've got the pleasantries out of the way, let me ask...what the hell are you up to? 
Lillian Luthor: We've hardly spoken since Lex's trial. I thought maybe you called me here to make amends. It's Thanksgiving, after all. But I see I was mistaken.
(Lillian Luthor turns around to leave.)
Lena Luthor: There's a reporter sniffing about.
(Lillian Luthor stops.)
Lena Luthor: She's smart. She knows something about you. What is it?
Lillian Luthor: I couldn't possibly imagine!
Lena Luthor: See, I know you're lying...
Lillian Luthor: And how would you know that?
Lena Luthor: Because you told me you love me. And we both know that's not true. Thanks for stopping by, Mom.

Kara: Hey, you don't uh... you don't, like me, do you?
Mon-El: Of course I like you.
Kara: No, I mean like, you don't "like me" like me?
Mon-El: "Like you like you?" Sorry... English is my second language...
Kara: My mom, Eliza, she... she thought you were being extra nice to her on Thanksgiving. That's like a thing that boys on this planet do. They're nice to the moms of girls they have crushes on sometimes.
Mon-El: "Crush?" Sorry... I'm not following.
Kara: (annoyed) You don't want to mate with me, do you?!
(Mon-El just laughs.)

(Eliza asks Alex what it is she was wanting to tell her earlier.)
Alex:
... how?
Eliza: Keeping a secret disagrees with you, sweetie.
Alex: This isn't like that, Mom...
Eliza: Does it have anything to do with Maggie? You mentioned her a lot.
(Alex looks dumbfounded.)
Eliza: Oh my beautiful Alexandra... why, why is it so hard for you to tell me?
Alex: ...I feel like I'm... I'm letting you down... somehow.
Eliza: Why would your being gay ever let me down?
Alex:  You always wanted me to have a regular life.
Eliza: Alex... look at the life our family has led. Look at me! Look at your sister! I don't think you believe I ever expected you to have a regular life. You were always going to be different Alex, because you've were always exceptional and I love you however you are. Come here.
(The two hug.) 

(Kara looks out on National City from the DEO rooftop. J'onn comes up behind her.)
J'onn: I like this view much better than the stalactites in our last office. Here, the lives we've been charged to protect are always in view.
Kara: Kinda reminds me of the view from my room on Krypton. I could see the whole city from that window. All the lights... pods zooming by...
(Kara sighs and steps away from the railing.)
Kara: But then again, I guess I didn't truly see anything... All my life, I thought my parents were the good guys. And now the more I learn, the more I see things... how they really are. And the more I'm ashamed to be their daughter.
J'onn: Kara. your parents tried to protect a planet. They tried to save lives!
Kara: I'm sure Lex and Lillian Luthor thought their intentions were good, too. Is this their legacy? Death and destruction across the universe?
J'onn: Your parents legacy is not death and destruction, Kara Zor-El. It's you.


Dialogue Disasters

(James announces his intent to reveal that he is The Guardian to Kara.)
Alex: No. No, you're not. No. Because I have something to say. Something very important. And I'm not going to have you two hijacking the night with your vigilante... hijinks!
Winn: I'm sorry. Um - I couldn't sleep a wink last night. No, I can't wait.
Kara: (entering the room) Can't wait for what?
Winn: (weakly)... Eliza's glazed carrots?

Every damned line Cyborg Superman says.

(Cyborg Superman knocks down J'onn)
Cyborg Superman: You may be an alien, but I am Cyborg Superman!
(Supergirl flies down and punches out Cyborg Superman)
Supergirl: You may be a cyborg, but you are no Superman!


Continuity


Kara refers to Lena's statement from 201 regarding turning L-Corp into a force for good.

Lena Luthor and Lillian Luthor are not emotionally close.

Dr. Eliza Danvers is an expert on alien biology.

There is a hologram of Kara's father Zor-El in the Fortress of Solitude computer.

Project Medusa was a joint venture between the Science Guild and Military Guild of Krypton.

The Cyborg Superman has heat-vision on par with Supergirl's in one eye.

Mon-El kisses Kara for the first time, albeit it while in the grips of a hallucination. Mon-El has no memory of it later, much to Kara's disappointment.

Lillian Luthor is apparently arrested at the episode's end.

Cyborg Superman apparently escapes before the police arrive.

In a call back to 201 - where it is revealed that Mon-El's rocket passed through a place called The Well Of Stars, where time does not pass - we see an alien ship full of hooded figures arrive at The Well of Stars in search of Mon-El.

Eliza Danvers is able to use The Medusa Virus to cure J'onn's conversion into a White Martian.

Alex and Maggie begin dating.

Barry Allen arrives from Earth Prime along with Cisco "Vibe" Ramon. Barry introduces Cisco as a friend but Cisco says "friend is a loose term" and that he and Barry work together. This is a nod to recent events in The Flash (F307) where the friendship between the two became strained after Cisco discovered that Barry's alteration of the timeline was indirectly responsible for the death of his brother.

Barry refers to the events of 118 and how Kara promised him her help if he ever needed it.


Location

The Fortress of Solitude


The Fridge Factor

Kara looks like kind of an idiot, running into Mon-El's quarantine cell when he starts coughing.


The Kryptonite Factor

What they're doing with Hank Henshaw as Cyborg Superman is a thrice-damned shame. There's a lot of drama in the idea of an alien-hating bigot being turned into a machine and fighting against the alien who took over his identity. Unfortunately, any pathos that might be examined here or any exploration of the moral ramifications of J'onn's choices is abandoned in favor of David Harewood growling his lines and spouting dialogue that would be too corny for a Power Rangers villain.


The Bottom Line


A bit of a mixed bag, all in all. The script is well-balanced thematically yet undercuts its own drama. The excellent scene between Lena and Lillian early on, for instance, completely kills any idea that Lena would ever help her mother later on.

Cyborg Superman is easily the worst villain in the show's history.  The show's take on Hank Henshaw is so bland and one-note that I actively groaned when he escaped so that he could plague later episodes with his presence. Throw in the fact that this episode doesn't really have anything to do with Invasion, apart from the last minute cameo by Grant Gustin and Carlos Valdes and one could see the whole thing as a bit disappointing.

And yet... it largely works due to the charisma of the cast and all the good parts of the script. Alex coming out to her mother, the flirting between Mon-El and Kara, J'onn reassuring Kara that her parents are not the monsters she's afraid they might have been and Maggie and Alex continuing to bond more than make up for the other short-comings of the episode's action sequences.

Starman Plays The Pandora Directive (Lombard Street) - Part 7

In which The Black Arrow Killer (or his copycat) has been stopped, but we still have more questions than answers. What did Dag Horton steal that was worth killing over? Why is the NSA involved in this case? Who is the mysterious woman who saved us from the police? Where can we find Thomas Malloy? And why am I asking you?


Thursday, November 24, 2016

Starman Plays The Pandora Directive (Lombard Street) - Part 6

In which our search for The Black Arrow Killer leads us (too late) to the mysterious Sandra. It also leads us into a front for the NSA and a race against the clock to save Lucy Luv!


Starman Plays Skyrim Special Edition - Part 8

In which I show you another method by which you can steal from the unfortunate peasants you befriend by doing their petty tasks. We then undertake one of said petty tasks and raid our first bandit camp to retrieve an ancestral sword.


Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Detective Comics #945 - A Review

As Batman looks into his past to find the identity of The First Victim, the rest of The Belfry Team undergo psychiatric evaluation. Some members of the team are doubting their place. Others question the presence of other members of the team. Yet all of Gotham's heroes will be needed when The Victim Syndicate attacks again...


The artwork for this issue is all over the place. Unfortunately, this goes beyond the conflicting styles of the two art teams. Carmen Carnero and Scott Hanna do a fine job together but the work by Al Barrionuevo in the opening pages looks sloppy and inconsistent. Still, it serves as an interesting lesson in how a good inker can make or break a book.


Thankfully, the writing of James Tynion IV continues to be this book's most consistently excellent feature. There are a number of great character moments in this issue. I was particularly happy to see Clayface getting some much-needed exploration, since the series so far has said little about what prompted his sudden heroic streak. The final page offers a cliff-hanger that will leave readers anxiously awaiting the next issue in three weeks.

Future Quest #7 - A Review

With the vortexes getting worse and the UN in emergency session, it falls to Inter-Nation to deal with the crisis. The kidnapping of Dr. Quest has slowed their efforts but they do have other scientists - like robotics expert Dr. Kim Conroy - to consult with. Little do they realize that Quest's kidnapping was a ruse and that Dr. Zin - having discovered the nature of the threat they are fighting - is ready to work with them.. but is it too late for that?


The art team for this series has done a fantastic job emulating the feeling of the 1960s comics that had as much a hand in inspiring Future Quest as the Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the era. There's little consistency between the styles of Doc Shaner, Ron Randall and Steve Leiber but thankfully the story is broken up in such a way that the art emphasizes the different universes coming together for this crossover.


Jeff Parker continues to spin the mother-of-all crossover tales like a master weaver. As good as this series has been, however, I am truly looking forward to next month's issue and the arrival of a character I've been waiting to see in action since this series was announced.

Batgirl #5 - A Review

Face to face with the mysterious Teacher, Barbara Gordon is in for the fight of her life. With her senses enhanced by a cutting-edge treatment, Teacher is capable of anticipating every move Batgirl can make! Yet Barbara's new training may give her the edge she needs to win if she is ready to forget everything she knows...

Beyond Burnside concludes in an epic fashion with this issue. Hope Larson spun a golden tale about the Barbara Gordon we all know and love - a confident, smart heroine who overcomes obstacles on her own. And while it took some time to win me over, the artwork by Rafael Albuquerque and Dave McCaig proved perfectly suited to portraying the action-movie aesthetic of Larson's story.

Starman Plays The Pandora Directive (Lombard Street) - Part 5

In which we read the newspaper, meet Crazy Gary - The Vegan Street Preacher, return to The Snow White Warehouse and meet with a reporter about a dead serial killer seemingly returned from the grave... with a vengeance!

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 3, Episode 7 - Killer Frost

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.




Plot

When Caitlin is forced to use her powers to save Barry from Savitar, it seems to trigger a transformation that brings her bad side out. When she takes Julian Albert hostage as part of her desperate search for Alchemy and a return to normalcy, Barry and Cisco may be forced to fight their friend in order to stop her before she truly lives up to the name Killer Frost!


Influences

The Flash comics of John Broome (creator of Doctor Alchemy), The Flash comics of Mark Waid (creator of Savitar and The Alchemist) and the Firestorm comics of Gerry Conway (creator of the original Killer Frost.)


Goofs

Granting that the performances for this episode are generally excellent, they do not excuse the fact that the script is built around the asinine conceit that Caitlin's sudden villainy is due to her powers being inherently evil and that Caitlin will suddenly start taking hostages and breaking into police interrogation rooms.. The whole thing feels horribly forced and while Caitlin's anger at Barry over her current circumstance may be understandable (if not justified), it still doesn't explain why she wouldn't seek help from Cisco as opposed to taking Albert hostage. As a result, the central conceit of the episode doesn't ring true.

If Barry is right and it is Caitlin's powers that are turning her evil, why didn't they put the power-blocking cuffs on her while she was unconscious in a bid to win her back from the dark side?


Performances

Danielle Panabaker sells the hell out of every scene she's in. It's almost enough to make up for the weak script. Almost. Yet there are some great moments here, particular her scenes opposite Grant Gustin.

On that note, I don't often speak about Grant Gustin's acting talents because he is so rarely tested or required to push into new areas. This episode is different, with Grant turning in a phenomenal performance  - particularly when Barry releases Caitlin and tells her the only way she is leaving STAR Labs is by killing him.

Not to be outdone, Carlos Valdes delivers an unusually sober performance as Cisco Ramon learns the truth behind his brother's death.


Artistry

Whatever else may be said about Kevin Smith, the man can direct the heck out of scenes involving two people talking.  Most of the episode plays to Smith's strengths, consisting of a series of dialogues. Even the few action sequences are built around conversations.

The sequence of Savitar "taking Barry for a run" looks fantastic.


Flash Facts


This episode was directed by filmmaker and comic writer Kevin Smith, who also directed episode 221 - The Runaway Dinosaur.

The new role of Detective Tom Patterson is played by Greg Grunberg. A veteran actor who has appeared in numerous science-fiction television series and movies (perhaps most famously as telepathic patrolman Matt Parkman in HEROES), he is notably one of the few actors to appear in both Star Wars and Star Trek. He is also co-host (with director Kevin Smith) of the show Geeking Out.

Savitar was a villain introduced in the Mark Waid run of The Flash. A pilot for an unnamed Third-World country during The Cold War, the man who became Savitar was struck by lightning while testing a supersonic jet and developed super-speed. He took the name Savitar and began to study the applications of his powers, developing techniques no other speedster at that time had. Among these abilities were the creation of force-fields made of inertia and the power to drain the speed from moving objects. He developed a cult of followers, whom he was able to loan his speed to and sought to depower every other speedster on Earth who was not one of his followers.

As HR notes, Savitar is the name of the Hindu god of motion.

We know little about the DCTVU version of Savitar so far save that he is apparently so fast that ordinary humans cannot perceive him. When he grabs a hold of Barry, all everyone else sees an invisible force holding Barry down.  Even Barry only perceives Savitar as a white bolt of light when he is in motion. Despite this, Savitar is still vulnerable to Caitlin Snow's freezing powers, which ice his body over, rendering him visible, and holding him in place for a couple of seconds.

We learn in this episode that Doctor Alchemy is apparently the head of a cult devoted to Savitar and that there are three other people in the cult.

Caitlin attempts to kill Barry at one point by kissing him and draining the heat from his body. This was a favorite method of absorbing the heat from another person used by Killer Frost in the comics.

In the final scene of this episode, Julian Albert is confirmed to be Doctor Alchemy but he seems to be a reluctant servant of Savitar.

In the original Flash comics, the first Doctor Alchemy was a man named Albert Desmond whom suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder. It was his darker personality that spurred his acts as a super-villain. That may be the case here as well.


Technobabble


Savitar's speed is such that when he is carrying Barry with him, the tracker at STAR Labs seems to show Barry teleporting from point to point around the city. Barry says that it seemed like teleporting, even from his perspective.

Cisco is able to create intra-dimensional breaches - i.e. portals between two points on the same Earth. However, this is an even greater strain on him than creating a breach between two different Earths, for some reason.

The MRI Caitlin takes of Cisco's brain shows changes in the capillary morphology similar to that of a mini-stroke. Thankfully, this is more serious than it sounds and Caitlin assures Cisco he'll be fine after a few aspirin. However, she still advises him against attempting an intra-dimensional breach for a while.

Wally's vital signs and brain function within the cocoon are subdued. Caitlin describes them as being on par with those of a coma patient.

When a caterpillar is in its chrysalis, its body brakes down into enzyme soup before rebuilding itself as a butterfly. For that reason, Caitlin advises against trying to cut Wally out of the cocoon he is in.

Caitlin asks Julian Albert to create an algorithm that will allow him to locate anyone who conducted a specific web-search within the past six months. In this case, the word "Savitar".

Cisco is able to track Caitlin by using the STAR Labs satellite to detect the ultraviolet cold signatures created by her powers. It can also detect rapid temperature decelerations.

Caitlin disables Barry by severing his triceps surae - a pair of muscles located in the calf. Even with Barry's quick healing powers, it will take him four hours to recover.

Joe's attempt to cut Wally from his cocoon results in a power surge in the STAR Labs cortex.

Cisco is also able to program the STAR Labs satellite to scan for rapidly moving objects.

Caitlin theorizes that removing Wally from his cocoon early left him in a fuege state. His synapses aren't used to functioning at super-speed, so his muscles and mind are misfiring. She develops a synthetic neural compound that she thinks will get mind and body working at the same speed again.


Dialogue Triumphs


Savitar: You may serve The Speed Force, Flash, but I rule it! You are only a man, but I am a god! Your god! I am Savitar!

(The Flash runs in, planting himself between Julian Albert and Caitlin)
Barry: Stop.
Caitlin: Get out of here!
Barry: You know I can't.
Julian: What are you doing?! Take her out! Take her out!
Barry: (To Caitlin) You don't want to do this. You don't want to hurt anybody.
Julian: She's willing to hurt someone! Knock her out!
(Barry punches Julian at super-speed, knocking him out.)
Barry: Caitlin...
Caitlin: Leave me alone!
Barry: What are you doing?
Caitlin: I have to find Alchemy!
Barry:  We will find him. All right? Together.
Caitlin: No. You don't understand. I don't want to lock him up. I need him to help me!
Barry: Help you what?
Caitlin: I need him to get rid of my powers!
Barry: Oh, Caitlin... I don't know if it works that way.
Caitlin: You don't know that it doesn't!
Barry: I know that we love you. And we will do everything that we can to help you. You and I? We've - we've been through too much together to let each other down now. Please... let me help you.
Caitlin: Like you helped your mother?
Barry: Caitlin...
Caitlin: Or Wally? Or me? You keep messing with everyone's lives, wrecking everything and we're left behind to pick up the pieces from your mistakes! Some things you break can't be put back together!
Barry: ... I can fix this.
Caitlin: Oh, like you fixed Cisco's family? You didn't tell Cisco that you screwed him worst of all, did you? (loudly to the open air)  You hear that, Cisco? Dante was alive - health and happy - until Barry created Flashpoint! When he reset things? That's what killed him. Barry is the reason your brother is dead!

Caitlin: (To Craig the cultist) Both of my parents are doctors. It's all I ever wanted to be. Growing up I used to practive the Hypocratic Oath. I was obsessed with it. If anyone was even going to step on a bug, I would say "Do no harm!" It's built into my DNA (makes an razor-sharp icicle) Unfortunately, my DNA isn't what it used to be. So believe me when I say... answer every one of my questions or I will harm you and your family.

(The Flash comes running into the scene. Caitlin throws a chilling blast in front of him. Barry slips on the suddenly icy road and falls on his bad leg.)
Caitlin: How's the leg?
(Barry sighs, suddenly punching at Caitlin's ankle and sweeping her off her feet. She lands next to him on the pavement. The two lie there a moment, both pained.)
Barry: I'm sorry, Caitlin
Caitlin: That was cold, Flash. But this is colder.
(Caitlin rolls over on top of Barry, kissing him. His skin turns blue almost instantly as if the life were being sucked out of him... which it is!)

(Barry opens The Pipeline and looks at Caitlin in her cell.)
Barry: We need your help, Caitlin. Wally, he - he's out of the cocoon but his biochemistry is all out of wack. He went AWOL.
Caitlin: So?
Barry: So when we find him, he's going to need your help. He's going to need your medical expertise. Your experience with metas. What he needs is Caitlin Snow MD.
Caitlin: So you came to try and talk some sense into me?
Barry: No. I came to let you go.
(Barry opens her cell door.)
Caitlin: For a smart guy, that was an awfully dumb move.
Barry: Like I said, you're free to go.
Caitlin: What's the catch?
Barry: You have to kill me.

Caitlin: You want to fight? Flash?
Barry: No. I'm not going to fight you. But if you want to leave this room, you're going to have to kill me.
Caitlin: Don't think I won't...
Barry: Then do it.
(Caitlin makes a shiv out of ice and holds it up. She hesitates in stabbing Barry.)
Barry: What are you waiting for? What's the big deal? (tauntingly) C'mon! Live up to your name, Killer Frost. I want to see some killing!  You want to be the villain? This is what they do. They kill their friends, because nothing matters to them anymore, right?
(Barry steps forward, pressing his chest against the ice shiv.)
Barry: Right?! C'mon!  Kill me, Caitlin!
(Caitlin still hesitates in pushing the shiv further.)
Barry: You can't do it. You can't. Because underneath all that cold, you're still you.
(Caitlin's eyes suddenly shift back to normal as she drops the icicle and collapses against Barry, her eyes tearing up. Barry just hugs her.)
Barry: It's okay. I've got you. It's okay.


Continuity

The episode continues right where 306 left off.

Cisco is able to use his powers to teleport through a breach between two points on the same Earth, though this leaves him horribly sickened afterward.

Caitlin's ice powers are strong enough to freeze Savitar in place and ice-over his body, if only for a few seconds.

HR claims to be a crossword puzzle wizard in two planets.

Alchemy is revealed to be an acolyte of Savitar and their cult is devoted towards Savitar. The cultists believe Savitar will judge humanity

We do not find out what powers any of the cultists have gained from their association with Alchemy.

There are three members of the cult besides Alchemy. One of them is captured by the CCPD but goes unnamed. We do not find out what powers he has, but he claims to sense the fear in Caitlin.

Caitlin is able to use her powers to exhale chilled air (a.k.a. freeze breath) and create a smoke-screen of chilled fog.

Cisco is able to track Caitlin by using the STAR Labs satellite to detect the ultraviolet cold signatures created by her powers. This is the same method he used to track Captain Cold in 203.

Detective Thompson is a trigger-happy police officer who hates metahumans and believes they are all crazy.

HR does not have any children.

Cisco learns that his brother's death was caused by Barry's creation of The Flashpoint timeline.

Another cultist- who escaped - is named Craig and has a house in the Central City suburbs. He also has a wife and children, as Caitlin threatens to harm his family, though we only see the wife.

We do not know what powers Craig has but he claims to have seen the future and says that Savitar has plans for Caitlin. He also claims to have seen Caitlin as Killer Frost in the future and that Alchemy can take away powers in addition to giving them to people.

Caitlin refers to both Eddie Thawne and Ronnie Raymond as people Barry failed to save in both 123 and 201.

Barry refers to what Jay Garrick told him about his not being a god in 302 after Iris says something similar.

Wally frequently went to his old house in Keystone City when he was missing his mother.

Wally is confirmed to have super-speed. His lighting is yellow, like Barry's.

Wally's exact top speed is not mentioned but it is said that he's faster than Barry was when Barry first started out as The Flash.

Wally compares the feeling of The Speed Force to everything feeling buzzing and electric, like he can do anything.

Cisco tells Barry, quite honestly, that he isn't sure if they are going to be okay now that Cisco knows that Barry is responsible for his brother's death.

Julian Albert agrees not to identify Caitlin Snow as his attacker if Barry agrees to resign from the CCPD.

It is starting to storm as Barry leaves his lab after packing his things.

Julian Albert is confirmed to be Doctor Alchemy.


Location

The Wests's old house in Keystone City.


The Fridge Factor

Caitlin's entire arc regarding her gaining super-powers is based around the trope that some powers are inherently evil and using them is a one-way street to becoming a villain. It's somewhat disturbing that of all the people to develop powers around Barry Allen, it's the one woman who is in danger of being corrupted and falling to The Dark Side.


The Bottom Line

Strong direction and some strong performances from the core cast salvage an unusually weak script. Thankfully, it seems they are done toying with the idea of Caitlin becoming a villain or are at least going to go about it in a slower, more natural way than her powers just making her evil.

Doctor Who: The Third Doctor #3 - An Advanced Review/Preview

Rewarded for aiding The Time Lords by having his exile to Earth lifted and his TARDIS restored to travel-readiness, The Doctor was ready to return to exploring the wonders of the universe. Unfortunately, an alien invasion and the return of one of his past incarnations have proven distracting enough to prevent his departure. With the invading "micro-machines" having taken over the body of his companion, Jo Grant, The Doctor must enter into psychic combat with them inside of Jo's mind!





I was saddened by Paul Cornell's recent announcement that he would be taking a break from writing for licensed properties. Granting my own bias as a Third Doctor fan and cosplayer (I still have a picture of myself, in costume, with Billie Piper and Karen Gillan as the background on my Twitter account!), I have deeply enjoyed Cornell's work on this mini-series and hoped that it might follow The Ninth Doctor in becoming a monthly book. While that may still be in the cards, it will probably happen without Cornell, which is a shame as he has perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the Third Doctor with his scripting on this series.

Cornell is well matched by artist Christopher Jones, who treads a fine line between realistic caricatures and a certain cartoonish quality in his depictions of the various characters of The Pertwee Era of Doctor Who. The lively colors by Hi-Fi add to the mod mystique. This is one limited series I wish were less confined - ironic really, given the Third Doctor's own confinement!

Doctor Who: The Third Doctor #3 releases on November 30, 2016. 
Ask for it at your local comic shop or purchase it on Comixology.com.

Injustice: Ground Zero #8 - A Review

Bored out of her crazy little skull, Harley Quinn and her new gang of resistance fighters were reduced to asking the GCPD if there was anything they could do to help them. This led to the sewers and their accidental uncovering of a Regime plot to draft the few free heroes and villains still free in Gotham. Can Harley and company overcome an enraged Bane and Killer Croc?!


Pop Mhan's artwork proves a perfect vehicle for this erratic tale. Mhan shifts his style expertly to fit the needs of the scene. His action sequences make use of a more traditional style that well-suits the kinetic nature of the conflict. By contrast, the flashbacks in which Harley remembers better days (well, relatively speaking) with The Joker are rendered with a softer, more exaggerated appearance that would look cartoonish even without the inclusion of singing birds circling a romanced Harley's head. Mark Roberts does an equally fantastic job finishing the art with his colors.


The story is the equal of the art. It is worth noting that Chris Sabela does not romanticize The Joker and Harley's relationship at all. The plot by Brian Buccellato makes no bones about the fact that Harley is being abused. This is not the least bit preachy, however, but serves to drive home the central conflict of Harley's character. Intellectually, she knows The Joker is bad but that doesn't matter when the bad feels good. The rest of the issue outside the flashbacks, however, confirm Harley's status as a capable anti-hero and a true icon of the DC Universe.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Year Two #12 - An Advanced Review/Preview

Newly arrived in 17th Century Paris, The Doctor has noticed that several things are amiss. For one thing, Cardinal Richelieu is still alive and kicking some fifty years after he was meant to have died. For another, humans don't normally bleed darkness out of their eyes. In the face of that, a hard-drinking, sword-swinging red-haired virago of a soprano demanding a duel over The Doctor insulting her singing is the least of his problems. Yet Julie D'Aubigny may prove to be a grand companion for The Doctor... assuming she doesn't kill him first!



There is much to admire about this latest Twelfth Doctor story. The lightly inked and vividly depicted colors craft the aura of an oil-painting. This matches the swashbuckling tone of the story quite well and Julie D'Aubigny has immediately proven herself to be the most interesting of The Doctor's companions in some time. In saying that, I must confess a bias to companions from Earth's past and a personal wish we had more characters like Jamie and Leela in the current series. Regardless, this is a great issue of a great series.

Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Year Two #12 releases on November 30, 2016. 
Ask for it at your local comic shop or purchase it on Comixology.com.

Starman Plays Skyrim Special Edition - Part 7

In which we return to Whiterun to tell the Jarl that we have slain a dragon and are apparently the chosen hero of legend... The Dragonborn!

But first we hunt down a wanted woman who was responsible for selling out her nation to the accursed Thalmor. Well, probably.  We also meet Lydia, oh Lydia, say have you met Lydia... Lydia the whiny housecarl?

Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 7 - The Darkest Place

For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.





Plot

James Olsen's new life as a hero may be cut short when a violent vigilante frames The Guardian for one of his own murders. Meanwhile, J'onn experiences odd symptoms following his blood transfusion from M'gann and Kara enters into Cadmus to rescue a captive Mon-El only to come face to face with the real Hank Henshaw!


Influences

Superman: The Movie (Lillian Luthor talks to Kara through a high-pitched signal and uses a threat to lure Supergirl into a trap), the third and fourth seasons of Justice League Unlimited (Cadmus as an anti-superhero organization) and the Superman comics of Dan Jurgens (character of Cyborg Superman).


Goofs

Mon-El asks about the proper procedure for "finding a mate" in Earth culture. Give he's apparently seeing at last three women, you would think he would have asked about that particular custom before now!

It seems highly unlikely that pouring Kryptonian blood on a Kryptonian computer console would cause it to assume that the person standing before the console matched the blood.

Even if that did work, shouldn't Kelex have auditory and visual censors that would allow him to "see" that Cyborg Superman is not Kara Zor-El?

Even allowing that The Cyborg Superman could be using his technopathy to confuse the computer, why did they need Kara's blood if he was capable of that in the first place?


Artistry


The direction for this episode is top-notch, darker and more intense than is typical for the series.

The editing between the various flashbacks in the first segment works well, as does the scene being filmed with a circling camera moving around the table filming Kara, Alex, Winn and James as they talk about The Guardian.

The set-design for Cadmus is truly spooky and the atmospheric music helps build the tension of the scenes there.

The fight scenes involving Guardian are some of the best this series has seen.


Super Trivia


Kara makes reference to her cousin working with a vigilante who had "tons of gadgets" and "lots of demons". This is almost certainly a reference to Batman.

Kara mentions a blonde Valeronian as one of Mon-El's regular lovers. In the DC Comics universe, Valeron is an alien world whose dominant sentient lifeforms resemble Earthlings. It is most well known as the homeworld of Vartox, The Hyper-Man - a super-being who is even more powerful than Superman.

M'gann makes K'rkzar's Tonic for J'onn - an old Martian folk remedy, apparently similar to chicken soup for Earthlings. In the original DC Comics universe, K'rkZar was the name of an alien philosopher who traveled the universe, studying the religions of all sentient races - including The Martians - searching for one great universal truth. J'onn went off in search of K'rkzar in Martian Manhunter Special #1 (July 1996) in the hope that he might have met other Martian survivors in his travels.

The mysterious Cadmus scientist from the previous episodes is finally identified by name in this episode as Lillian Luthor. Lillian Luthor first appeared in Superman #292 (October 1975). She never received any development beyond being ashamed of her infamous son Lex Luthor and is primarily a footnote in comic book history.

Lillian Luthor did get developed somewhat more in the Smallville TV series, where she was portrayed as a spirited woman from a rich family, who stood up to her equally stubborn husband Lionel on a great many things before her death.  She was not a scientist, however, so the DCTU characterization of Lillian Luthor is wholly original.

Lillian Luthor uses some kind of hypersonic radio to get Supergirl's attention. This is similar to how Lex Luthor got Superman's attention in Superman: The Movie.

According to Lillian Luthor, Cadmus was the first hero in Greek Mythology and is only remembered today for killing monsters. Ironically, she forgets an important part of the myth - that Cadmus created most of the monsters he killed, planting a dragon's teeth like seeds and killing most of the legion of fierce men - The Spartoi.- who grew from the teeth.

This aspect of the legend - a man creating supermen - is what inspired the name of The Cadmus Project in the original comics.

Cadmus is also remembered as the founder of the city of Thebes and being the first King of that city.

Hank Henshaw first appeared in Adventures of Superman #465 (April 1990). Created as a sort of parody of Reed Richards from Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, Henshaw was an astronaut that was part of the doomed crew of a space shuttle that was exposed to cosmic radiation as part of a LexCorp experiment. The radiation transformed all of the crew in horrific fashions, prompting all of them - except Henshaw - to commit suicide.

Blaming Superman for the incident and left with the power of technopathy (controlling machines through pure thought), Henshaw devoted himself to destroying Superman. To that end, he fashioned a new body for himself based on Kryptonian technology and Superman's DNA that he gathered after broadcasting his mind into the ship that carried Superman to Earth as a baby. He appeared to the people of Earth as The Cyborg Superman for the first time in Adventures of Superman #500 (June 1993) and set about trying to destroy Superman's reputation in the wake of his apparent death.

It's worth noting that Supergirl and the Cyborg Superman have a more direct relationship in the New 52 DC Comics Universe. There, The Cyborg Superman is Zor-El - Kara Zor-El's father.  After sending his daughter to Earth, Zor-El found a way to protect Argo City from the destruction of Krypton using Brainiac technology. Brainiac then infected Zor-El, transforming him into a half-electronic/half-organic being under Brainiac's control.

Both versions of Cyborg Superman have the standard super-powers of a Kryptonaian under a yellow sun, in addition to their technopathy.

It is not explained in this episode how the DCTVU version of Hank Henshaw was transformed into The Cyborg Superman, but he shows strength and durability on-par with Supergirl. There's no visible evidence of his having technopathic powers but it is possible he is using his powers to manipulate The Fortress of Solitude computers and robots in the final scene.

The prison cells in Cadmus are made of unbreakable Nth metal, which Mon'El notes is from Thanagar. In the DC Comics universe, N'th metal is indeed from Thanagar but it has far more unusual properties than merely being strong. Nth metal has the ability to nullify gravity and magical energy. A person wearing an object made of Nth metal - such as a belt - would be able to fly and be protected from most forms of magic. It would also protect the wearer from the elements, speed the healing of wounds and increases their strength. A weapon made of Nth metal could penetrate protective magic spells and disrupt magical energy fields.

It is worth noting that in Legends of Tomorrow, Vandal Savage's immortality was caused by exposure to an N'th Metal Meteorite, as was the reincarnation cycle of Hawkman and Hawkgirl.

It is confirmed that - as in the original comics- Daxamites are allergic to lead.. Unlike the original comics, however, the poisoning is treatable and temporary.

The violent vigilante is revealed to be a Navy Seal named Phillip Karnowsky, who lost his wife to violence and began targeting criminals he felt escaped justice due to legal technicalities, like his wife's murderer.

In the original DC Comics, Phillip Karnowsky was a career criminal known as Barrage, who used a high-tech suit of armor to commit crimes. After losing an arm during a fight with Maggie Sawyer, Barrage developed a stronger suit with a robot arm with an energy cannon to use in his quest for revenge.

The DCTVU version of Barrage is very much like his comic book counterpart in terms of powers, save that his armored suit has a machine-gun arm rather than an energy cannon.

Mon-El says that marriages on Daxamite are prearranged at birth and people become bonded to one another at a certain age. This seems similar to how marriages are handled on some versions of Krypton in the comics.


Technobabble

In addition to his shield, James's Guardian costume comes equipped with smoke bombs, a wrist-mounted bola-launcher and a wrist-mounted grappling hook.

K'rkzar's Tonic is a popular Martian folk remedy prepared for those who are recovering from an illness. While impossible to replicate perfectly on Earth, M'gann attempts to make it for J'onn by substituting ghost peppers for z'arr roots.

Snapper Carr refers to the confirmation bias - the tendency to interpret any evidence to fit a previously established belief. In this case, James Olsen's belief that any costumed vigilante is automatically good.

N'th Metal comes from the planet Thanagar and is unbreakable, according to Mon'El.

Lillian Luthor has a helmet capable of absorbing the energy of Supergirl's solar flare power.

Daxamites are dangerously allergic to lead.

Alex determines that J'onn's blood has low hematocrit levels. A hematocrit the ratio of the volume of red blood cells to the total volume of blood. Alex says this could be due to dehydration or a higher concentration of sodium.

Green Martian blood and White Martian blood are apparently visibly different at a microscopic level.

The White Martians developed an alternative way to exterminate the Green Martians, by turning their blood into a mutagen that would transform Green Martians into White Martians. This is confirmed to be the cause of J'onn's illness and halucinations.


Dialogue Triumphs


(The crook has been snared by The Guardian and is hanging upside down.)
Crook: You ain't the police! This is wrongful imprisonment!  Kidnapping! I know a lawyer, you freak!
Guardian: Good. You're going to need one.

Kara: Are you still feeling sick from The Parasite?
J'onn: I keep seeing my wife and daughters. K'hym. T'ania. Like they're in the room with me.
Kara: Maybe this has something to do with M'gann?
(J'onn just shrugs a bit.)
Kara: When I got to Earth, I saw my parents everywhere. I was in my room one night. I remember looking up at the stars... and feeling so alone. I started to cry. And Eliza came in my room and I yelled at her to get out.
J'onn: Yelled? It's hard to imagine you as a teenager.
Kara: Well, I wasn't always this mature.
(J'onn smiles at that and nods for Kara to continue.)
Kara: Eliza refused to leave. She said... that my parents would want me to be loved. That nothing would replace them. That they were a part of who I am. (sniffles a bit) That was the first time I ever let her really hug me. And that was the first time I didn't feel alone anymore. Having M'gann in your life doesn't mean losing your family. It means feeling whole again.

Kara: If I leave you here, Alex will never forgive me!
Jeremiah: Kara, if you die here, there will be no one to forgive.

(Guardian is running from Barrage's bullets.)
Winn: Go high and to the left!
(Guardian shoots out his grappling hook and does so, only to be knocked out of the air by a sudden explosion.) 
Guardian: I thought you said to go high and left?!
Winn: That was to avoid bullets. I did not realize he had grenades!


Dialogue Disasters

Supergirl: Why are you doing this?
Cyborg Superman: Because it's time for you to die! You and the rest of the alien scum have no place on this planet!


Continuity


Mon-El has apparently been sleeping with Darla (the bartender at the alien bar, who used to be in a relationship with Maggie Sawyer), Eve (James Olsen's personal assistant, Miss Teschmacher) and an unnamed blonde Valeronian.

J'onn said his grandmother used to make K'rkzar's Tonic for him whenever he was sick.

The blood transfusion J'onn received from M'gann causes him to hallucinate - first visions of his dead wife and children. Then delusions that one of his fellow DEO agents was a White Martian.

J'onn learned Tai Chi from a Shaolin monk in the late 1800s.

Alex figures out that Winn is involved with The Guardian based on Winn's inability to lie after he defends The Guardian.  Winn confesses to her that James is The Guardian.

Alex knows six painful ways to get a person to talk using only her index finger.

Lillian Luthor refers to the events of 106 and Kara's losing her powers briefly following her use of her "solar flare" power.

Daxamites have an allergy to lead, similar to the effects of Kryptonite on a Kryptonian.

M'gann reveals that the story she told J'onn in 204 is true but that she was the White Martian who refused a kill order rather than one of the victims who escaped Mars.

Mon'El is about to tell Kara something about Daxam when they are rescued by Jerimiah Danvers.

The Cadmus base is empty when the DEO storms it.

J'onn locks M'gann up in a cell in the DEO base.

Maggie and Alex agree to remain friends.

Mon'El shows signs of being romantically interested in Kara.

Cyborg Superman is apparently strong enough to lift the key to The Fortress of Solitude.


Location


The final scene takes place in The Fortress of Solitude.


Untelevised Adventures


We have yet to learn how Hank Henshaw was transformed into The Cyborg Superman.


The Bottom Line


A rare episode where the best parts lie in the execution of the technical elements rather than the performance of the cast. Between J'onn confronting M'gann, Mon-El needing a rescue, Guardian fighting Barrage, the return of Jeremiah Danvers and Alex dealing with Maggie's rejection there's a lot going on in this episode and the cast doesn't get enough time to truly develop the material they are offered. And the first appearance of The Cyborg Superman is just lame, even ignoring David Harewood hamming it up.