Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Starman Plays Batman: The Telltale Series - Part 13
In which things get even darker than you'd ever expect from a Batman game, as we investigate a murder scene and get some idea of just how screwed up Vicki Vale's childhood was. We are then pressed with a choice as to whom we deal with first to close out Episode 4. Will it be Gotham City's mad mayor? Or the murderous thug now running Wayne Enterprises into the ground?
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Black Lightning Episode Guide: Season 2, Episode 15 - The Book of the Apocalypse: Chapter One: The Alpha
For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.
Plot
Jefferson begins trying to instill his superhero code into Jennifer, but his youngest daughter refuses to give up on the idea of revenge on Tobias for killing Khalil. Meanwhile, Lala continues his own plans for revenge as Anissa continues the search for Grace and Lynn attempts to acclimate Wendy Hernandez to the modern world.
Influences
Batman and the Outsiders (Tobias Whale trying to become a metahuman soldier trafficker, the Masters of Disaster)
Performances
Honestly, the whole ensemble is doing so well here it's hard to single anyone out this week.
Trivia
The final three members of the Masters of Disaster are introduced in this episode, after Shakedown was previously introduced. They are Joe a.k.a. Heatstroke (fire controller), Rebecca"Becky" Jones a.k.a. New Wave (water controller who can also become pure water) and Darryl Robinson a.k.a. Coldsnap (ice controller).
In the original comics. Joe was a woman named Joanne and New Wave was the team leader, but the powers and names are otherwise the same.
Technobabble
Gambi theorizes that the radioactive signal he found at the free clinic came from the power supply sustaining the pods. The signal is very low level and can't be tracked by satellite, however Gambi installed Geiger counters around Freeland, hoping to triangulate a location by detecting radiation on the wind.
The material making up Jennifer's costume absorbs and disperses electrical charges, so as not to add to her natural bio electricity. Gambi hopes this will keep others from overloading her.
Dialogue Triumphs
(Jennifer is trying to justify killing Tobias.)
Jennifer: Freeland would be better off if he were permanently gone.
Jefferson: You don't mean "permanently gone," you mean "dead. " And, it's not about whether he deserves it, though the Good Book says it is not our decision to make.
Jennifer: It also says "an eye for an eye."
Jefferson: Which is an idea older than the Bible, Jen. Hammurabi's Code. It was meant to limit vengeance, not justify it.
Jennifer: Khalil died because you put him out front. Doesn't that matter?
Jefferson (sighing): You know, I have had a long time to think about my powers, Jennifer. Some days I feel like I have it all figured out, but most of the time, I have no idea No idea why God saw fit to put this burden on me. The only thing I know for sure is that those with the greatest power should not be able to decide who lives or dies. No, that is a path that can only lead to darkness.
Cutter: So, who should we choose?
Dr. Jace: Marcus is too weak, thanks to you.
Cutter: He's an ass anyway. I like Rebecca, but I don't think sending a woman would appeal to your target audience.
Tobias: Hmm. Men can be stupid that way.
Cutter: I vote for Joe.
Dr. Jace: His powers will look good on camera, that's for sure.
Tobias: Joe it is.
Continuity
A Green Light user known as Cape Guy is gunned down by the Freeland Police after he accidentally generates a magnetic storm He was a former solider who turned to Green Light to cope with his PTSD and then became a superhero after he developed powers.
Jefferson comes up with a code of three rules for himself and his daughters to follow in costume. Rule #1 is no revealing who they are to anyone outside the family. Rule #2 is no hero business without back-up. (Gambi does count as back-up.) Rule #3 is no killing. Both Anissa and Jennifer agree to the rules.
Dr. Jace revives the rest of the Masters of Disaster - Coldsnap, Heatstroke and New Wave.
Agent Odell is still spying on the Pierce family.
Agent Odell tells Lynn that the trail on finding the missing Green Light Babies has gone cold.
Lynn says she has no way of knowing if the Green Light Babies are still alive after having been moved.
Dr. Jace says it will be two weeks before the Green Light Babies are ready to be revived.
Lazarus - the man who resurrected Lala - tells him that Tobias killed Lady Eve.
Anissa talks to Gambi about Grace and says it sounds like she might be a shape-shifter.
Lynn makes arrangements for Wendy Hernandez to speak with Perenna and Jennifer about their powers as a form of therapy.
Lazarus gets Lala a gun.
Tobias unleashes Heatstroke on Freeland to demonstrate the power of his product in a live video on the dark web.
Heatstroke attacks Councilman Parker and super-heats a set of gas pipers, sparking fires around Freeland.
Black Lightning and Thunder are able to stop Heatstroke.
Gambi tracks down Tobias location and goes to watch it until Jefferson is freed up.
Lala shows up at Tobias' lair and shrugs off Cutter's attacks.
Jennifer hacks Gambi's computer and goes to the location in her new costume.
Cutter and Tobias flee their hideout just before Jennifer arrives.
The episode ends with Jennifer overheating after landing outside Tobias's lair.
The Bottom Line
This doesn't feel like the next to last episode of the season. Most of the subplots are touched upon but nothing really moves forward at all. The cliffhanger more than makes up for it, though.
Plot
Jefferson begins trying to instill his superhero code into Jennifer, but his youngest daughter refuses to give up on the idea of revenge on Tobias for killing Khalil. Meanwhile, Lala continues his own plans for revenge as Anissa continues the search for Grace and Lynn attempts to acclimate Wendy Hernandez to the modern world.
Influences
Batman and the Outsiders (Tobias Whale trying to become a metahuman soldier trafficker, the Masters of Disaster)
Performances
Honestly, the whole ensemble is doing so well here it's hard to single anyone out this week.
Trivia
The final three members of the Masters of Disaster are introduced in this episode, after Shakedown was previously introduced. They are Joe a.k.a. Heatstroke (fire controller), Rebecca"Becky" Jones a.k.a. New Wave (water controller who can also become pure water) and Darryl Robinson a.k.a. Coldsnap (ice controller).
In the original comics. Joe was a woman named Joanne and New Wave was the team leader, but the powers and names are otherwise the same.
Technobabble
Gambi theorizes that the radioactive signal he found at the free clinic came from the power supply sustaining the pods. The signal is very low level and can't be tracked by satellite, however Gambi installed Geiger counters around Freeland, hoping to triangulate a location by detecting radiation on the wind.
The material making up Jennifer's costume absorbs and disperses electrical charges, so as not to add to her natural bio electricity. Gambi hopes this will keep others from overloading her.
Dialogue Triumphs
(Jennifer is trying to justify killing Tobias.)
Jennifer: Freeland would be better off if he were permanently gone.
Jefferson: You don't mean "permanently gone," you mean "dead. " And, it's not about whether he deserves it, though the Good Book says it is not our decision to make.
Jennifer: It also says "an eye for an eye."
Jefferson: Which is an idea older than the Bible, Jen. Hammurabi's Code. It was meant to limit vengeance, not justify it.
Jennifer: Khalil died because you put him out front. Doesn't that matter?
Jefferson (sighing): You know, I have had a long time to think about my powers, Jennifer. Some days I feel like I have it all figured out, but most of the time, I have no idea No idea why God saw fit to put this burden on me. The only thing I know for sure is that those with the greatest power should not be able to decide who lives or dies. No, that is a path that can only lead to darkness.
Cutter: So, who should we choose?
Dr. Jace: Marcus is too weak, thanks to you.
Cutter: He's an ass anyway. I like Rebecca, but I don't think sending a woman would appeal to your target audience.
Tobias: Hmm. Men can be stupid that way.
Cutter: I vote for Joe.
Dr. Jace: His powers will look good on camera, that's for sure.
Tobias: Joe it is.
Continuity
A Green Light user known as Cape Guy is gunned down by the Freeland Police after he accidentally generates a magnetic storm He was a former solider who turned to Green Light to cope with his PTSD and then became a superhero after he developed powers.
Jefferson comes up with a code of three rules for himself and his daughters to follow in costume. Rule #1 is no revealing who they are to anyone outside the family. Rule #2 is no hero business without back-up. (Gambi does count as back-up.) Rule #3 is no killing. Both Anissa and Jennifer agree to the rules.
Dr. Jace revives the rest of the Masters of Disaster - Coldsnap, Heatstroke and New Wave.
Agent Odell is still spying on the Pierce family.
Agent Odell tells Lynn that the trail on finding the missing Green Light Babies has gone cold.
Lynn says she has no way of knowing if the Green Light Babies are still alive after having been moved.
Dr. Jace says it will be two weeks before the Green Light Babies are ready to be revived.
Lazarus - the man who resurrected Lala - tells him that Tobias killed Lady Eve.
Anissa talks to Gambi about Grace and says it sounds like she might be a shape-shifter.
Lynn makes arrangements for Wendy Hernandez to speak with Perenna and Jennifer about their powers as a form of therapy.
Lazarus gets Lala a gun.
Tobias unleashes Heatstroke on Freeland to demonstrate the power of his product in a live video on the dark web.
Heatstroke attacks Councilman Parker and super-heats a set of gas pipers, sparking fires around Freeland.
Black Lightning and Thunder are able to stop Heatstroke.
Gambi tracks down Tobias location and goes to watch it until Jefferson is freed up.
Lala shows up at Tobias' lair and shrugs off Cutter's attacks.
Jennifer hacks Gambi's computer and goes to the location in her new costume.
Cutter and Tobias flee their hideout just before Jennifer arrives.
The episode ends with Jennifer overheating after landing outside Tobias's lair.
The Bottom Line
This doesn't feel like the next to last episode of the season. Most of the subplots are touched upon but nothing really moves forward at all. The cliffhanger more than makes up for it, though.
Arrow Episode Guide: Season 7, Episode 15 - Training Day
For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.
Plot
With tensions high between the newly deputized Team Arrow and the Star City Police Department once charged with bringing them to justice, Oliver Queen hopes a training day for himself and his teammates will help bring people together. Unfortunately, things go wrong almost immediately and Dinah gets some life-altering news.
Meanwhile, in the future of Star City 2038, William and Mia - now aware of what they are to each other - continue their search for Felicity, but can they find a way to mesh street-smarts and tech-smarts to get what they need to play Felicity's latest message?
Influences
The 2001 film Training Day. (title, base idea of rookie cops first day at work going awry) and Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters (Dinah losing her powers after having her throat slit)
Goofs
Why didn't Mayor Pollard just scrap the whole Deputized Vigilante program immediately after Oliver threatened a CEO with an acid swirly? It was just the excuse she'd been waiting for and there's no reason for her no to have thrown the book at Oliver then and there apart from there still being half an hour of episode to pad out.
There's very little about Black Siren's attempt to blackmail Emiko that makes sense. First, how did she learn that Emiko is the new Green Arrow in the first place? Next, why on Earth does she think Oliver and Team Arrow would disapprove of Emiko killing Diaz enough for it to ruin their relationships, when she was helping Felicity to plot Diaz's murder just last week? Finally, there's no apparent purpose to said blackmail and no apparent reason Black Siren would need leverage over Emiko.
Oliver's attitude is all over the place in this episode. He starts off being determined to give the new SCPD partnership a chance. Then he gets sick of the bureaucracy after one batched raid. Then he's threatening to dunk crooked CEOs into acid vats. Then he's ready to break the law and go back to being an unlicensed vigilante even if he can't keep it up forever. Then he's willing to give the partnership thing a try again. And then by the end of the episode the team is back in their old base with their own costumes and gear and it hasn't mattered in the slightest because the mayor was finally embarrassed into striking down the anti-vigilante law.
Performances
Once again, Juliana Harkavy steals the show, giving a powerful performance as Dinah Drake faces an identity crisis. Denied her powers, she throws herself into her role as a police Captain and finds herself butting heads with her teammates as she struggles with her own sense of identity and self-worth. It's deep stuff and well-handled.
Trivia
The plot-point of Dinah losing her Canary Cry after having her throat slit is taken directly from the Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters mini-series, where Black Canary lost her powers after having her throat cut.
Technobabble
Autopsy results on the four Los Halcones gang members revealed traces of an unidentified substance, which caused a chemical reaction with the blood that resulted in toxic epidermal necrolysis - i.e. their skin melting off.
Chlormethine is a cytotoxic agent derived from mustard gas. It's illegal to manufacture except for medicinal purposes, like chemotherapy.
Felicity is able to alter her security system algorithm to track DNA anywhere in Star City.
Dialogue Triumphs
(The SCPD rookies are being addressed by Sergeant Bingsley and Captain Dinah Drake.)
Sergeant Bingsley: Wearing the uniform of an SCPD officer is an honor. It isn't just a uniform. It's a symbol of the law, of justice, of transparency.
Dinah: Thank you, Sergeant Bingsley. Any questions?
(Rene raises his hand.)
Dinah: Rene?
Rene: He does know we have our own uniforms, right?
Oliver: Have I told you lately how smart you are?
Felicity: Well, I never get tired of hearing it.
Dinah: There is no more vigilante way, okay? There is only the SCPD way. It's my job to enforce it.
Rene: Look, I get it. You're the captain, but you're also the Black Canary. I thought that came first?
Dinah: It doesn't.
Rene: Since when?
Dinah: Since I stuck my neck out to make this partnership work. Vigilantes cannot operate without SCPD sanction. The sooner all of us understand that, the better it's gonna be for all of us.
Rene: Everyone's got something at stake here, D.
Dinah: But if this fails, I'm the one who loses my job. It's my ass on the line. I don't understand why this is so hard for all of you to understand.
Rene: I've know you a long time, D, and I've never seen you roll over the way you just did with Pollard.
Dinah: She's the mayor, Rene. And she can put an end to this whole operation anytime she wants.
Rene: That's not the point. You've been yelling at me, been yelling at Oliver, and pretty much acting weird ever since the weapons buy. So what's up, D? What's going on?
Dinah: At the weapons buy, I tried to use my cry, but something went wrong. It didn't work right. It It hurt like someone was scraping knives along the inside of my throat.
Rene: I'm sorry.
Dinah: Being captain is the only thing I have left. I can't be the symbol of being on both sides, both SCPD and vigilante, because I am I'm not the Black Canary. Not anymore.
Rene: That's a bunch of crap, and you know it. Your cry doesn't make you the Canary. Did you know that the pin you gave Zoe, she wears to school every day? You think she wears that pin because of your cry? No. She looks up to you because you're the person who will go above and beyond to do what is right no matter the personal consequences. That's who you are no matter what.
Dinah: Even if that's true, it doesn't matter anymore.
Rene: Of course it does. You say you can't be the symbol of being on both sides. That's exactly what you are.
Felicity (on tape): William and Mia... you know, this is the first time I've ever said your names together? 20 years and I avoid ever saying your names in the same sentence. It feels like the work of a paranoid, overprotective mother. I guess we really do turn into our parents. I'm rambling. Sorry. Not just for the rambling. For everything. But mostly for keeping the two of you apart. I'm not asking for your forgiveness but just know that your father and I did it to protect you. We did it because we love you. Now that you've found each other, I just have one request. Give these coordinates to the team: 47. 6119 North, 122. 3301 West. And then get the hell out of Star City. And whatever you do, don't come looking for me.
Mia: So we're ignoring her?
William: Definitely.
Continuity
Oliver, Felicity, John and Rene are all going through SCPD basic training to learn basic police procedure so they can all work as deputized vigilantes.
Los Halcones are the arch rival gang of the Blackout Gang - a new gang that showed up in Star City after Oliver Queen went to prison.
Four Los Halcones were found dead in a warehouse, killed by strange new bullets that melted their skin.
Black Siren is contacted at the DA's office by Bronze Tiger, who was last seen in 707.
Bronze Tiger tells Black Siren that Ricardo Diaz was killed but that the Slabside Penitentiary staff are trying to cover up just how it happened, saying he was shived. He says he can give Black Siren the truth in exchange for having his the work on his pardon stepped up.
When Black Siren says she is already working as fast as possible to get him released, Bronze Tiger agrees to trade his information in exchange for a chance to see his son without a window in between them.
During the raid on the Blackout Gang's weapons buy, the police overhear that Midas Medical made the bullets.
Felicity determines that the melting-bullets used by the Blackout Gang make use of chlormethine.
Midas Medical is one of four firms on Star City who make chlormethine.
Oliver scares a confession out of James Midas - the owner of Midas Medical. It is ruled inadmissible and Midas is released, getting a personal apology form Mayor Pollard on the way out of the police station.
Black Siren makes good on her deal and Bronze Tiger is allowed to see his son, whose first name is Connor, and whom he calls "my little Hawk." The suggestion here is that Connor will become Connor Hawke and be adopted by John Diggle in the future.
Bronze Tiger tells Black Siren that he was confined in solitary across from Diaz and saw the person who set him on fire was dressed like Green Arrow but wasn't Oliver Queen through his open meal slot.
Felicity fixed up the old Team Arrow bunker on the sly. She and Oliver decide they are going to operate outside the law again.
They ask Diggle to join them, but he urges them to give working with the police another chance.
Diggle finds out that Felicity is pregnant.
Dinah and Rene are brought to the bunker and agree to try and work with the police protocols, using their old costumes and gear. This time, they catch James Midas in the act without issues.
Thanks To Mayor Pollard's relationship with Midas, Dinah is able to get her to not only allow Team Arrow to be established as a special SCPD task force but gets permission for them to operate from the bunker.
The anti-vigilante law is also repealed.
John gives Felicity a bag of ginger candy chews, saying that Lyla swore by them during her own pregnancy.
Black Siren summons Emiko Queen to her office and says she knows that she killed Ricardo Diaz and is the new Green Arrow.
Emiko Queen, in turn, reveals that she knows Black Siren isn't the real Laurel Lance. She also says that Team Arrow wouldn't believe Black Siren if she tried to tell them about her.
Felicity says that if they have a boy she wants to name him Lucas.
Oliver says that if they have a daughter, they should name it Mia - short for Moira.
William finds a mini-cassette player in the black market, being sold by a man named Felix. He bargains Felix down to $500, only to have the player pick-pocketed by a young girl in Felix's employ.
When Mia learns of this, she threatens Felix, only for him to respond that he's bribed the local SCPD officers to come running if he needs help.
William is able to hack the SCPD comms and fake a Black Canary sighting. This distracts Felix's back-up long enough for Mia to smack him down and William to take what they need.
Felicity apologies to Mia and William for ruining their lives and gives them a set of coordinates to pass on to the vigilantes. She then tells them to get out of Star City and not to look for her.
The coordinates lead to somewhere inside The Glades. Both William and Mia agree to ignore Felicity's instruction to abandon her or Star City.
The Bottom Line
A disjointed and rushed piece of filler that exists only to restore the status quo of early Season 6 as quickly as possible. Team Arrow is back. Long live Team Arrow. At least until everything that is due to go south in the immediate future happens.
That being said, Dinah's subplot is well-handled and well-acted and the show handles her depowerment as well as could be hoped. Unfortunately, the rest of the episode seems to be a distraction from what should be a much bigger deal. Still, the good parts of the episode far outweigh the bad and it's rather enjoyable even if the character arcs make no sense at all.
Plot
With tensions high between the newly deputized Team Arrow and the Star City Police Department once charged with bringing them to justice, Oliver Queen hopes a training day for himself and his teammates will help bring people together. Unfortunately, things go wrong almost immediately and Dinah gets some life-altering news.
Meanwhile, in the future of Star City 2038, William and Mia - now aware of what they are to each other - continue their search for Felicity, but can they find a way to mesh street-smarts and tech-smarts to get what they need to play Felicity's latest message?
Influences
The 2001 film Training Day. (title, base idea of rookie cops first day at work going awry) and Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters (Dinah losing her powers after having her throat slit)
Goofs
Why didn't Mayor Pollard just scrap the whole Deputized Vigilante program immediately after Oliver threatened a CEO with an acid swirly? It was just the excuse she'd been waiting for and there's no reason for her no to have thrown the book at Oliver then and there apart from there still being half an hour of episode to pad out.
There's very little about Black Siren's attempt to blackmail Emiko that makes sense. First, how did she learn that Emiko is the new Green Arrow in the first place? Next, why on Earth does she think Oliver and Team Arrow would disapprove of Emiko killing Diaz enough for it to ruin their relationships, when she was helping Felicity to plot Diaz's murder just last week? Finally, there's no apparent purpose to said blackmail and no apparent reason Black Siren would need leverage over Emiko.
Oliver's attitude is all over the place in this episode. He starts off being determined to give the new SCPD partnership a chance. Then he gets sick of the bureaucracy after one batched raid. Then he's threatening to dunk crooked CEOs into acid vats. Then he's ready to break the law and go back to being an unlicensed vigilante even if he can't keep it up forever. Then he's willing to give the partnership thing a try again. And then by the end of the episode the team is back in their old base with their own costumes and gear and it hasn't mattered in the slightest because the mayor was finally embarrassed into striking down the anti-vigilante law.
Performances
Once again, Juliana Harkavy steals the show, giving a powerful performance as Dinah Drake faces an identity crisis. Denied her powers, she throws herself into her role as a police Captain and finds herself butting heads with her teammates as she struggles with her own sense of identity and self-worth. It's deep stuff and well-handled.
Trivia
The plot-point of Dinah losing her Canary Cry after having her throat slit is taken directly from the Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters mini-series, where Black Canary lost her powers after having her throat cut.
Technobabble
Autopsy results on the four Los Halcones gang members revealed traces of an unidentified substance, which caused a chemical reaction with the blood that resulted in toxic epidermal necrolysis - i.e. their skin melting off.
Chlormethine is a cytotoxic agent derived from mustard gas. It's illegal to manufacture except for medicinal purposes, like chemotherapy.
Felicity is able to alter her security system algorithm to track DNA anywhere in Star City.
Dialogue Triumphs
(The SCPD rookies are being addressed by Sergeant Bingsley and Captain Dinah Drake.)
Sergeant Bingsley: Wearing the uniform of an SCPD officer is an honor. It isn't just a uniform. It's a symbol of the law, of justice, of transparency.
Dinah: Thank you, Sergeant Bingsley. Any questions?
(Rene raises his hand.)
Dinah: Rene?
Rene: He does know we have our own uniforms, right?
Oliver: Have I told you lately how smart you are?
Felicity: Well, I never get tired of hearing it.
Dinah: There is no more vigilante way, okay? There is only the SCPD way. It's my job to enforce it.
Rene: Look, I get it. You're the captain, but you're also the Black Canary. I thought that came first?
Dinah: It doesn't.
Rene: Since when?
Dinah: Since I stuck my neck out to make this partnership work. Vigilantes cannot operate without SCPD sanction. The sooner all of us understand that, the better it's gonna be for all of us.
Rene: Everyone's got something at stake here, D.
Dinah: But if this fails, I'm the one who loses my job. It's my ass on the line. I don't understand why this is so hard for all of you to understand.
Rene: I've know you a long time, D, and I've never seen you roll over the way you just did with Pollard.
Dinah: She's the mayor, Rene. And she can put an end to this whole operation anytime she wants.
Rene: That's not the point. You've been yelling at me, been yelling at Oliver, and pretty much acting weird ever since the weapons buy. So what's up, D? What's going on?
Dinah: At the weapons buy, I tried to use my cry, but something went wrong. It didn't work right. It It hurt like someone was scraping knives along the inside of my throat.
Rene: I'm sorry.
Dinah: Being captain is the only thing I have left. I can't be the symbol of being on both sides, both SCPD and vigilante, because I am I'm not the Black Canary. Not anymore.
Rene: That's a bunch of crap, and you know it. Your cry doesn't make you the Canary. Did you know that the pin you gave Zoe, she wears to school every day? You think she wears that pin because of your cry? No. She looks up to you because you're the person who will go above and beyond to do what is right no matter the personal consequences. That's who you are no matter what.
Dinah: Even if that's true, it doesn't matter anymore.
Rene: Of course it does. You say you can't be the symbol of being on both sides. That's exactly what you are.
Felicity (on tape): William and Mia... you know, this is the first time I've ever said your names together? 20 years and I avoid ever saying your names in the same sentence. It feels like the work of a paranoid, overprotective mother. I guess we really do turn into our parents. I'm rambling. Sorry. Not just for the rambling. For everything. But mostly for keeping the two of you apart. I'm not asking for your forgiveness but just know that your father and I did it to protect you. We did it because we love you. Now that you've found each other, I just have one request. Give these coordinates to the team: 47. 6119 North, 122. 3301 West. And then get the hell out of Star City. And whatever you do, don't come looking for me.
Mia: So we're ignoring her?
William: Definitely.
Continuity
Oliver, Felicity, John and Rene are all going through SCPD basic training to learn basic police procedure so they can all work as deputized vigilantes.
Los Halcones are the arch rival gang of the Blackout Gang - a new gang that showed up in Star City after Oliver Queen went to prison.
Four Los Halcones were found dead in a warehouse, killed by strange new bullets that melted their skin.
Black Siren is contacted at the DA's office by Bronze Tiger, who was last seen in 707.
Bronze Tiger tells Black Siren that Ricardo Diaz was killed but that the Slabside Penitentiary staff are trying to cover up just how it happened, saying he was shived. He says he can give Black Siren the truth in exchange for having his the work on his pardon stepped up.
When Black Siren says she is already working as fast as possible to get him released, Bronze Tiger agrees to trade his information in exchange for a chance to see his son without a window in between them.
During the raid on the Blackout Gang's weapons buy, the police overhear that Midas Medical made the bullets.
Felicity determines that the melting-bullets used by the Blackout Gang make use of chlormethine.
Midas Medical is one of four firms on Star City who make chlormethine.
Oliver scares a confession out of James Midas - the owner of Midas Medical. It is ruled inadmissible and Midas is released, getting a personal apology form Mayor Pollard on the way out of the police station.
Black Siren makes good on her deal and Bronze Tiger is allowed to see his son, whose first name is Connor, and whom he calls "my little Hawk." The suggestion here is that Connor will become Connor Hawke and be adopted by John Diggle in the future.
Bronze Tiger tells Black Siren that he was confined in solitary across from Diaz and saw the person who set him on fire was dressed like Green Arrow but wasn't Oliver Queen through his open meal slot.
Felicity fixed up the old Team Arrow bunker on the sly. She and Oliver decide they are going to operate outside the law again.
They ask Diggle to join them, but he urges them to give working with the police another chance.
Diggle finds out that Felicity is pregnant.
Dinah and Rene are brought to the bunker and agree to try and work with the police protocols, using their old costumes and gear. This time, they catch James Midas in the act without issues.
Thanks To Mayor Pollard's relationship with Midas, Dinah is able to get her to not only allow Team Arrow to be established as a special SCPD task force but gets permission for them to operate from the bunker.
The anti-vigilante law is also repealed.
John gives Felicity a bag of ginger candy chews, saying that Lyla swore by them during her own pregnancy.
Black Siren summons Emiko Queen to her office and says she knows that she killed Ricardo Diaz and is the new Green Arrow.
Emiko Queen, in turn, reveals that she knows Black Siren isn't the real Laurel Lance. She also says that Team Arrow wouldn't believe Black Siren if she tried to tell them about her.
Felicity says that if they have a boy she wants to name him Lucas.
Oliver says that if they have a daughter, they should name it Mia - short for Moira.
William finds a mini-cassette player in the black market, being sold by a man named Felix. He bargains Felix down to $500, only to have the player pick-pocketed by a young girl in Felix's employ.
When Mia learns of this, she threatens Felix, only for him to respond that he's bribed the local SCPD officers to come running if he needs help.
William is able to hack the SCPD comms and fake a Black Canary sighting. This distracts Felix's back-up long enough for Mia to smack him down and William to take what they need.
Felicity apologies to Mia and William for ruining their lives and gives them a set of coordinates to pass on to the vigilantes. She then tells them to get out of Star City and not to look for her.
The coordinates lead to somewhere inside The Glades. Both William and Mia agree to ignore Felicity's instruction to abandon her or Star City.
The Bottom Line
A disjointed and rushed piece of filler that exists only to restore the status quo of early Season 6 as quickly as possible. Team Arrow is back. Long live Team Arrow. At least until everything that is due to go south in the immediate future happens.
That being said, Dinah's subplot is well-handled and well-acted and the show handles her depowerment as well as could be hoped. Unfortunately, the rest of the episode seems to be a distraction from what should be a much bigger deal. Still, the good parts of the episode far outweigh the bad and it's rather enjoyable even if the character arcs make no sense at all.
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Supergirl Episode Guide: Season 4, Episode 14 - Stand And Deliver
For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.
Plot
Between Ben Lockwood's efforts to empower the anti-alien movement and The Elite's desire to bring down Lockwood and his followers, Supergirl is more worried than ever about the safety of the American people and innocents getting caught in the crossfire. When Lockwood organizes a Children of Liberty recruitment drive under the guise of a patriotic rally as J'onn organizes a peaceful counter-protest and The Elite plan to attack it, Kara may finally be forced to make a public stand. Meanwhile, James plays photographer to cover the rally as Alex finds herself being assigned to a task by Col. Haley that goes against her beliefs.
Influences
This episode was clearly inspired by the real-world Charlottesville Unite The Right rally held on August 11 & 12, 2017 and the following riots.
The idea of the baby sun-eater was taken from All-Star Superman.
Goofs
Kara gives Nia a hard time about getting in Menagerie's face and threatening her but says nothing about J'onn doing the same?
Reassigning the director of a federal organization to act as a security guard seems like a total waste of resources and the excuse that Alex has more experience than anyone fighting hostile aliens doesn't ring true either since most of The Elite aren't aliens. (Since when has President Baker cared about wasting resources?)
The Hat is able to teleport The Elite to The Fortress of Solutude but he said last week he couldn't go places he hadn't already been.
Why do Kelex or none of the other security protocols inside the Fortress of Solitude react to The Hat and Manchester and the Morae?
Why do Hat and Manchester make a great show of falling out in the Fotress when they have no reason to believe they are being watched? Their whole scene makes no sense outside the context of the television show needing us to believe Manchester is honestly dead.
There is no way a protest march would be allowed to enter the same building as the rally said march was protesting. (Unless Alex intentionally screwed up the perimeter security...)
Artistry
While Mad World is probably the most over-used song for this kind of montage, the scene of James taking pictures of the riot while Kara and Dreamer try to help people IS well staged.
Super Trivia
The key to the Fortress of Solitude is made of dwarf star material and weighs around 500,000 kilograms (i.e. 500 tons )
Much as in the comic All-Star Superman, the Arrowverse version of Superman is revealed to have a pet sun-eater, who lives in a room in the Fortress of Solitude. It feeds on the chemical mass of small stars, which Superman makes himself using a cosmic anvil and an atomic hammer. Kara says it's basically a living bomb.
The "Us or Them" speech started by Ben Lockwood at his rally is based on an actual chant used by neo-Nazis during the Charlottesville Riots.
Technobabble
Lena refuses to run human trials until the purification rate of her serum is 90% or higher.
Hat takes two items from the Fortress of Solitude - a crystal wand he says will let them activate all their aliens brothers and sisters and am amulet he says can do even more. The wand is later shown to be able to create holographic clones and illusions.
Manchester takes a belt that seems to give him some kind of protective force-field.
Dialogue Triumphs
(J'onn is watching the sleeping Dreamer.)
J'onn: (whispering) Have you told her she doesn't have to wear the suit in private?
Kara: (chuckling) It's just a phase. I did the same thing when I became Supergirl. I practically slept in my suit.
(Supergirl and Dreamer are facing down the Morae)
Dreamer: Yield or die!
Supergirl: (quietly) Just take it down to... like a 7?
Dreamer: Yield or else!
James: It's just important to remember what we do here every day. Reporting on events like this - taking the risks to show all sides and showing the humanity there? It's nothing less than heroic. I mean, think about it - you fight injustice with your firsts? You help one - maybe a dozen people. But good journalism? That can impact millions. That's why we became journalists in the first place, right?
Brainiac-5: I think it would mean a lot to have Supergirl march today.
Kara: I wish I could, Brainy, but I think its more important for me to patrol in case anything gets out of hand.
Brainiac-5: It won't. (dramatically) I am AmericanAlien. Hashtag American Alien.
Kara: You... you organized it?
Brainiac-5: When I lost my Legion ring, I realized how much I depended on it for strength and confidence. I thought it's hat made me a hero. But not having it these past few days has made me see it wasn't my ring that gave me strength. It was fighting alongside all of you, helping to make the Earth a better place. In times like this change won't come from someone with a ring or a cape. It will only come when each one of us answers the call to stand up and be heard. El Mayara - Stronger Together.
(Brainiac-5 glances at Dreamer, and sighs a bit as if hesitating to say something.)
Brainiac-5: Just because we're superheroes doesn't mean we forget who we are.
Kara: I'm sorry, Brainy. The risk is too great.
Dreamer: Ready!
(Brainiac-5 looks at Kara again, disappointed.)
Brainiac-5: Supergirl may be a symbol. But more importantly she's a citizen of Earth. Like the rest of us. Remember that.
(Supergirl confronts one of Lockwood's men - the one she saved at his first speech - as he his heckling the pro-alien protesters.)
Man: Supergirl?
Supergirl: What are you doing here?!
Man: We're here to show our support for the repeal of Alien Amnesty.
Supergirl: But that amnesty is what gives these aliens their rights.
Man: Why should they get any rights? They're just here to hurt us.
Supergirl: They're not - look at them! They're not here to hurt anyone! Most of them are fleeing from war and violence, just like I did when I first came to Earth.
Man: They're not like you. You're a superhero.
(Kara's jaw actually drops.)
Supergirl: No, you're wrong. I'm just like them.
(Supergirl flies before the protest, wearing a formal Kryptonian robe.)
Brainiac-5: Supergirl.
Supergirl: Kara Zor-El. Citizen of Earth.
Eve Teschmacher: Well, I guess tomorrow is another day.
Lena: Tomorrow may be too late.
Continuity
Dreamer, Supergirl and Martian Manhunter capture Menagerie as she's in the middle of stalking a rich woman with fancy jewelry. She is turned into the DEO.
The Elite attempt to assassinate Ben Lockwood at his first speech as Director of Alien Affairs.
Supergirl saves Lockwood's life and sends The Elite running.
James Olsen takes his coffee with two sugars.
James asks Eve Teschmacher about the black budget at L-Corp. Eve says she'll have to get permission from Lena to share it with him but she says the budget is only there to hide proprietary science from the company's competitors.
Col. Hayley demands that Lena speed up the process for human testing on her serum, saying that she needs her soldiers to be superhuman soon.
Alex is reassigned to oversee Ben Lockwood's security detail.
J'onn says that something about Manchester pushes his buttons and is making him come close to losing control.
Lockwood announces that he is moving to repeal the Alien Amnesty Act and start arranging the mass deportation of aliens from Earth. Legally, he has no power to do this, but he certainly has the capacity to rally people to lobby their congressional representatives to repeal the law.
Dreamer has a dream about the balcony opposite where Ben Lockwood had his rally the night before. It is here that Kara finds a Morae claw, which J'onn can use to track the Morae psychically.
A pro-alien rights rally is organized by someone called AmericanAlien on-line. Col. Hayley tasks Braniac-5 with figuring out who they are and what their intentions are. Brainiac-5 says that it will bot be easy, as whoever they are is a master of encryption.
Hat was told where to find The Fortress of Solitude by his friend "Mixy". This may be a reference to Mister Mxyzptlk, whom Kara fought at the Fortress in 213.
It is confirmed that Hat's powers come from the Fifth Dimension, but he does not seem to he an imp. Instead, he seems to just have a magic hat.
Hat has access to a pair of gloves that let him increase his strength enough to lift the key to the Fortress of Solitude.
Hat and Manchester seemingly have a falling out. Hat is worried Manchester is obsessed with seeking revenge over running their revolution. Manchester says that bringing down Lockwood IS the revolution. Hat wants to loot the Fortress of Solitude blind. Manchester is searching for something specific he can use against Lockwood and Supergirl.
The Morae sides with Manchester.
Dreamer is able to use her powers to augment J'onn's clairvoyance. This leads her to see Manchester in the Fortress of Solitude.
Manchester seemingly dies after running into a room containing Superman's pet baby sun-eater.
Supergirl turns the Morae into the DEO.
Brainiac-5 is placed in charge of organizing a DEO team to be embedded within AmericanAlien's protest rally and coordinating with Alex to make sure that people are kept safe.
J'onn says he can no longer sense Manchester's anger.
J'onn tries to search for Hat psychically, but he guesses that Hat is hiding in the Fifth Dimension.
Franklin - the Dryad from 402 - is sent to cover the rally for CatCo.
James decides to work as a photographer to cover the rally.
Brainy asks the rest of the team to march in the pro-alien rally. J'onn agrees, but Kara says she and Nia should be on patrol and look for trouble.
Brainy reveals that he is AmericanAlien and that he organized the march.
Alex evacuated Ben Lockwood from the rally once he has the crowd worked into a frenzy.
Manchester Black and Hat are revealed to have faked their display in the Fortress of Solitude and Manchester was teleported away to the Fifth Dimension after seeming to run into the sun-eater room.
Brainiac-5 and Supergirl are able to subdue The Hat.
Dreamer saves Franklin the Dryad from one of the Children of Liberty.
Manchester tricks J'onn into venting his anger on a Child of Liberty holographically altered to look like him.
The Child of Liberty follower Kara spoke to is later shown helping save an alien in the middle of the riot. He thanks Supergirl for saving him again and she thanks him in turn.
Manchester escapes in the confusion.
James says that the protest marches in Metropolis and Gotham were peaceful.
Ben Lockwood announces that he and the President agree that they should hold Congressional hearings regarding repealing the Alien Amnesty Act before making any decisions.
Col. Haley tells Alex that she appreciates her not letting her politics get in the way of her doing her job.
Col. Haley complements Brainiac-5 on the job he did managing the protest and says it's a good thing AmericanAlien was a good guy.
The implication is that Col. Haley knows that Brainiac-5 was American Alien and that Alex only allowed Lockwood to speak until he was officially inciting a riot.
Col. Haley tells Lena there is no rush on getting the super soldier program finished now.
Unable to find Manchester Black using his father's methods, J'onn declares that he will find him as a Manhunter.
James is shot by an unseen assailant in his office at CatCo.
Location
Fortress of Solitude.
The Bottom Line
On the one hand, this episode has a lot of logic problems, The Elite are defeated way too easily after having just been established as a major threat and Manchester Black undergoes the worst bit of character assassination ever. Col. Haley is back to being a decent person after being depicted as a military hardliner but a fair one or a total fascist depending on the writer. And Lena is just sorta... there.
On the other hand, the acting manages to make-up for a lot of this and some of the individual scenes are good, even if the performances have all the emotional flow of a roller-coaster. Still, it could be far worse, and what it does well it does very well.
Plot
Between Ben Lockwood's efforts to empower the anti-alien movement and The Elite's desire to bring down Lockwood and his followers, Supergirl is more worried than ever about the safety of the American people and innocents getting caught in the crossfire. When Lockwood organizes a Children of Liberty recruitment drive under the guise of a patriotic rally as J'onn organizes a peaceful counter-protest and The Elite plan to attack it, Kara may finally be forced to make a public stand. Meanwhile, James plays photographer to cover the rally as Alex finds herself being assigned to a task by Col. Haley that goes against her beliefs.
Influences
This episode was clearly inspired by the real-world Charlottesville Unite The Right rally held on August 11 & 12, 2017 and the following riots.
The idea of the baby sun-eater was taken from All-Star Superman.
Goofs
Kara gives Nia a hard time about getting in Menagerie's face and threatening her but says nothing about J'onn doing the same?
Reassigning the director of a federal organization to act as a security guard seems like a total waste of resources and the excuse that Alex has more experience than anyone fighting hostile aliens doesn't ring true either since most of The Elite aren't aliens. (Since when has President Baker cared about wasting resources?)
The Hat is able to teleport The Elite to The Fortress of Solutude but he said last week he couldn't go places he hadn't already been.
Why do Kelex or none of the other security protocols inside the Fortress of Solitude react to The Hat and Manchester and the Morae?
Why do Hat and Manchester make a great show of falling out in the Fotress when they have no reason to believe they are being watched? Their whole scene makes no sense outside the context of the television show needing us to believe Manchester is honestly dead.
There is no way a protest march would be allowed to enter the same building as the rally said march was protesting. (Unless Alex intentionally screwed up the perimeter security...)
Artistry
While Mad World is probably the most over-used song for this kind of montage, the scene of James taking pictures of the riot while Kara and Dreamer try to help people IS well staged.
Super Trivia
The key to the Fortress of Solitude is made of dwarf star material and weighs around 500,000 kilograms (i.e. 500 tons )
Much as in the comic All-Star Superman, the Arrowverse version of Superman is revealed to have a pet sun-eater, who lives in a room in the Fortress of Solitude. It feeds on the chemical mass of small stars, which Superman makes himself using a cosmic anvil and an atomic hammer. Kara says it's basically a living bomb.
The "Us or Them" speech started by Ben Lockwood at his rally is based on an actual chant used by neo-Nazis during the Charlottesville Riots.
Technobabble
Lena refuses to run human trials until the purification rate of her serum is 90% or higher.
Hat takes two items from the Fortress of Solitude - a crystal wand he says will let them activate all their aliens brothers and sisters and am amulet he says can do even more. The wand is later shown to be able to create holographic clones and illusions.
Manchester takes a belt that seems to give him some kind of protective force-field.
Dialogue Triumphs
(J'onn is watching the sleeping Dreamer.)
J'onn: (whispering) Have you told her she doesn't have to wear the suit in private?
Kara: (chuckling) It's just a phase. I did the same thing when I became Supergirl. I practically slept in my suit.
(Supergirl and Dreamer are facing down the Morae)
Dreamer: Yield or die!
Supergirl: (quietly) Just take it down to... like a 7?
Dreamer: Yield or else!
James: It's just important to remember what we do here every day. Reporting on events like this - taking the risks to show all sides and showing the humanity there? It's nothing less than heroic. I mean, think about it - you fight injustice with your firsts? You help one - maybe a dozen people. But good journalism? That can impact millions. That's why we became journalists in the first place, right?
Brainiac-5: I think it would mean a lot to have Supergirl march today.
Kara: I wish I could, Brainy, but I think its more important for me to patrol in case anything gets out of hand.
Brainiac-5: It won't. (dramatically) I am AmericanAlien. Hashtag American Alien.
Kara: You... you organized it?
Brainiac-5: When I lost my Legion ring, I realized how much I depended on it for strength and confidence. I thought it's hat made me a hero. But not having it these past few days has made me see it wasn't my ring that gave me strength. It was fighting alongside all of you, helping to make the Earth a better place. In times like this change won't come from someone with a ring or a cape. It will only come when each one of us answers the call to stand up and be heard. El Mayara - Stronger Together.
(Brainiac-5 glances at Dreamer, and sighs a bit as if hesitating to say something.)
Brainiac-5: Just because we're superheroes doesn't mean we forget who we are.
Kara: I'm sorry, Brainy. The risk is too great.
Dreamer: Ready!
(Brainiac-5 looks at Kara again, disappointed.)
Brainiac-5: Supergirl may be a symbol. But more importantly she's a citizen of Earth. Like the rest of us. Remember that.
(Supergirl confronts one of Lockwood's men - the one she saved at his first speech - as he his heckling the pro-alien protesters.)
Man: Supergirl?
Supergirl: What are you doing here?!
Man: We're here to show our support for the repeal of Alien Amnesty.
Supergirl: But that amnesty is what gives these aliens their rights.
Man: Why should they get any rights? They're just here to hurt us.
Supergirl: They're not - look at them! They're not here to hurt anyone! Most of them are fleeing from war and violence, just like I did when I first came to Earth.
Man: They're not like you. You're a superhero.
(Kara's jaw actually drops.)
Supergirl: No, you're wrong. I'm just like them.
(Supergirl flies before the protest, wearing a formal Kryptonian robe.)
Brainiac-5: Supergirl.
Supergirl: Kara Zor-El. Citizen of Earth.
Eve Teschmacher: Well, I guess tomorrow is another day.
Lena: Tomorrow may be too late.
Continuity
Dreamer, Supergirl and Martian Manhunter capture Menagerie as she's in the middle of stalking a rich woman with fancy jewelry. She is turned into the DEO.
The Elite attempt to assassinate Ben Lockwood at his first speech as Director of Alien Affairs.
Supergirl saves Lockwood's life and sends The Elite running.
James Olsen takes his coffee with two sugars.
James asks Eve Teschmacher about the black budget at L-Corp. Eve says she'll have to get permission from Lena to share it with him but she says the budget is only there to hide proprietary science from the company's competitors.
Col. Hayley demands that Lena speed up the process for human testing on her serum, saying that she needs her soldiers to be superhuman soon.
Alex is reassigned to oversee Ben Lockwood's security detail.
J'onn says that something about Manchester pushes his buttons and is making him come close to losing control.
Lockwood announces that he is moving to repeal the Alien Amnesty Act and start arranging the mass deportation of aliens from Earth. Legally, he has no power to do this, but he certainly has the capacity to rally people to lobby their congressional representatives to repeal the law.
Dreamer has a dream about the balcony opposite where Ben Lockwood had his rally the night before. It is here that Kara finds a Morae claw, which J'onn can use to track the Morae psychically.
A pro-alien rights rally is organized by someone called AmericanAlien on-line. Col. Hayley tasks Braniac-5 with figuring out who they are and what their intentions are. Brainiac-5 says that it will bot be easy, as whoever they are is a master of encryption.
Hat was told where to find The Fortress of Solitude by his friend "Mixy". This may be a reference to Mister Mxyzptlk, whom Kara fought at the Fortress in 213.
It is confirmed that Hat's powers come from the Fifth Dimension, but he does not seem to he an imp. Instead, he seems to just have a magic hat.
Hat has access to a pair of gloves that let him increase his strength enough to lift the key to the Fortress of Solitude.
Hat and Manchester seemingly have a falling out. Hat is worried Manchester is obsessed with seeking revenge over running their revolution. Manchester says that bringing down Lockwood IS the revolution. Hat wants to loot the Fortress of Solitude blind. Manchester is searching for something specific he can use against Lockwood and Supergirl.
The Morae sides with Manchester.
Dreamer is able to use her powers to augment J'onn's clairvoyance. This leads her to see Manchester in the Fortress of Solitude.
Manchester seemingly dies after running into a room containing Superman's pet baby sun-eater.
Supergirl turns the Morae into the DEO.
Brainiac-5 is placed in charge of organizing a DEO team to be embedded within AmericanAlien's protest rally and coordinating with Alex to make sure that people are kept safe.
J'onn says he can no longer sense Manchester's anger.
J'onn tries to search for Hat psychically, but he guesses that Hat is hiding in the Fifth Dimension.
Franklin - the Dryad from 402 - is sent to cover the rally for CatCo.
James decides to work as a photographer to cover the rally.
Brainy asks the rest of the team to march in the pro-alien rally. J'onn agrees, but Kara says she and Nia should be on patrol and look for trouble.
Brainy reveals that he is AmericanAlien and that he organized the march.
Alex evacuated Ben Lockwood from the rally once he has the crowd worked into a frenzy.
Manchester Black and Hat are revealed to have faked their display in the Fortress of Solitude and Manchester was teleported away to the Fifth Dimension after seeming to run into the sun-eater room.
Brainiac-5 and Supergirl are able to subdue The Hat.
Dreamer saves Franklin the Dryad from one of the Children of Liberty.
Manchester tricks J'onn into venting his anger on a Child of Liberty holographically altered to look like him.
The Child of Liberty follower Kara spoke to is later shown helping save an alien in the middle of the riot. He thanks Supergirl for saving him again and she thanks him in turn.
Manchester escapes in the confusion.
James says that the protest marches in Metropolis and Gotham were peaceful.
Ben Lockwood announces that he and the President agree that they should hold Congressional hearings regarding repealing the Alien Amnesty Act before making any decisions.
Col. Haley tells Alex that she appreciates her not letting her politics get in the way of her doing her job.
Col. Haley complements Brainiac-5 on the job he did managing the protest and says it's a good thing AmericanAlien was a good guy.
The implication is that Col. Haley knows that Brainiac-5 was American Alien and that Alex only allowed Lockwood to speak until he was officially inciting a riot.
Col. Haley tells Lena there is no rush on getting the super soldier program finished now.
Unable to find Manchester Black using his father's methods, J'onn declares that he will find him as a Manhunter.
James is shot by an unseen assailant in his office at CatCo.
Location
Fortress of Solitude.
The Bottom Line
On the one hand, this episode has a lot of logic problems, The Elite are defeated way too easily after having just been established as a major threat and Manchester Black undergoes the worst bit of character assassination ever. Col. Haley is back to being a decent person after being depicted as a military hardliner but a fair one or a total fascist depending on the writer. And Lena is just sorta... there.
On the other hand, the acting manages to make-up for a lot of this and some of the individual scenes are good, even if the performances have all the emotional flow of a roller-coaster. Still, it could be far worse, and what it does well it does very well.
The Flash Episode Guide: Season 5, Episode 15 - King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd
For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.
Plot
Cisco has completed work on the metahuman cure, but they still need a willing test subject to make sure it works. Barry suggests that King Shark - currently in the custody of ARGUS - might be just the man-shark for the job. Unfortunately, their visit coincides with Gorilla Grodd's attempt to escape custody and take over Central City with his newly honed psychic powers.
Influences
Traditional monster fighting monsters movies, The Shape of Water (subplot of woman falling in love with a fish monster) and The Flash comics of John Broome.
Goofs
Where the heck is Ralph Dibny this week? I know they probably couldn't afford two animal monsters AND the stretch guy this week, but it would have been nice if something had been said about where Ralph was.
Again, it must be noted how odd it is that Cisco - an engineer - is working on a cure for metahuman powers, while Caitlin - a medical doctor - constructs the delivery system.
It also seems strange that neither Caitlin nor Cisco had previously raised their objections to forcing their cure on metahumans who don't want to lose their powers... such as when Barry first suggested using their cure against Cicada weeks ago!
Even by the standards of comic book junk science, the idea that there is no way they'll ever be able to cure King Shark if he reverts back to his shark state is pure plot convenience. Or inconvenience in this case.
Performances
I didn't realize how much I missed Jesse L. Martin as Joe until they brought him back. While his subplot here is strictly unnecessary and is only there to make us realize how much we missed him... still good to have him back. Hopefully he'll be back in action soon.
The cast in general do a good job acting to empty air and suggesting that they believe all the various CGI beasties really are there.
Artistry
While the CGI is hardly the show's best, it is probably the best we could have hoped for given the difficulties of two CGI creatures fighting. And the effects team does a good job trying to make it look like the creatures have weight in the actual environment, even if Grodd seems way too bouncy for an 800 pound gorilla.
Flash Facts
Grodd is said to have climbed up the Broome Belfry. Located at the center of Central City, this building is doubtlessly named in honor of John Broome - a legendary Silver Age comics writer, who was probably most famous for his work on The Flash.
Technobabble
The metahuman cure works by altering a person's biology on a cellular level and suppressing the dark matter inside a metahuman's body.
Dark matter levels vary from meta-human to meta-human.
The Shay Lamden of Earth-Two developed a dark matter anomaly similar to the Shay Lamden of Earth-One. The difference is that while the Earth-One Lamden developed a mutated mass of tumors, which killed him, the Earth-Two Shay Lamden's neural pathways regressed, becoming more and more shark-like in his thinking.
Dr. Tanya Lamden was able to reverse King Shark's regression using a cerebral interface that stimulates his neural outputs, which she calls a telepathic crown.
Cisco compares the telepathic crown to the Mental Activity Dampener 2.0, even before they try using the two technologies together to increase their power and act as a lure for King Shark. The two are made to interact using a logarithmic code.
After having the metahuman cure used on him, King Shark's body still has some dark matter in his pituitary gland - the result of the first cure not being made with animal physiology in mind. A second dose, modified based on his unique biology should make his transformation to an ordinary human permanent.
A shark's amygdala triggers a huge emotional response when it feels attacked. Caitlin theorizes this is why Shay Lamden remembers very little of his early days as King Shark apart from rage.
Caitlin determines that King Shark's earlier rampage was caused by a severe brain wave disruption in his frontal lobe, resulting in a complete lack of control over emotions and judgment.The way the neurotransmitters work in the telepathic crown work never would have caused that. This leads to the revelation that Grodd was trying (and failing) to telepathically control King Shark.
Sharks only see in monochrome.
With the telepathic crown, Grodd's telepathy is powerful enough to override the anti-mind-control headsets that Cisco developed.
A vibration or jolt could be used to accelerate the cell cycle in Shay Lamden, prompting a return to the dark matter cellular form. Unfortunately, saturating his metagene cells a second time will eliminate any possibility of the meta cure being able to ever restore him to normal.
When a shark is turned upside down, it enters tonic immobility - a state of paralysis.
Sharks have electroreceptor organs called ampullae of Lorenzini? It's how they detect electromagnetic fields and navigate. The organ can also attract electrical currents, which enables The Flash to wake up King Shark with a thrown lightning bolt.
Dialogue Triumphs
Sherloque: Monsieur Lamden, I should introduce myself. Sherloque Wells. You've probably heard of me. I have a question. I've been debating in my brain. What drives the King Shark? Is it the shark, or is it the man?
Shay Lamden: If you're asking should I be held accountable for my actions, my answer is simple. Yes, I should. I don't remember how many people I hurt, or who, but that's no excuse.
Sherloque: I see him out there and I see you in here in the shadows. Why is that, I wonder?
Tanya: Can you blame me? You saw his hand transform.
Sherloque: (chuckles) Yes, right. "Shark Week!" Not something you see every day, but no, I thought your hesitation occurred before that moment, not after. It was a slight hesitation, but it was there nonetheless. Again, why do you think that is?
Tanya: I don't know.
Sherloque: No? Well, perhaps I could be so bold as to offer a suggestion that it is not the hand of which you were frightened, but rather, it was seeing the face of the man that you love.
Tanya: I don't love Shay. We're friends.
Sherloque: All right, well, let's take a look at that too, shall we? So this is a friend from another Earth, for whom you left a high-paying job and for whom you have dedicated every waking moment of your life trying to help. It doesn't quite add up.
Tanya: I can't love Shay. He's my dead husband's doppelganger from Earth-2. How crazy would I have to be to fall in love with him?
Sherloque: No crazier than marrying the same woman from five different Earths. (laughs quietly) I know. I'm very good at marrying people, but not so great at staying married. Along the way, though, on these countless Earths and countless doppelgangers, I learned there is one thing that makes all of us unique. And if that is what you fell in love with, well then, perhaps a face doesn't matter that much.
Grodd: Hear your master, Humans. Soon, you will only know my will...The will of Grodd!
King Shark: Tanya, you look sad. Why?
Tanya: We found each other today, and now that connection is -
King Shark: Still here.
Tanya: Shay... What you did...
King Shark: I would do it again for you, my love.
(King Shark puts his hand against the glass of the tank. Tanya does the same.)
Continuity
Grodd was last seen in L317 as part of Damien Darhk's team. Before that, he was last seen on The Flash in 314.
King Shark and Dr. Tanya Lamden were last seen in 215.
ARGUS Director Lyla Michaels makes an appearance. She is informed of Nora's status as Barry's daughter from the future and comments that this is no stranger than finding out your son used to be your daughter - a reference to how Barry's time-traveling somehow caused Sara Diggle to become John Diggle Jr.
Joe West returns from his trip visiting Wally West in Tibet.
Joe suggests that someone besides Officer Jones might be helping Cicada out.
ARGUS hired Dr. Tanya Lamden to work with King Shark to try and find a way to improve his condition.
King Shark is agreeable to trying the cure, before he suddenly goes on a rampage.
Joe is allergic to Szechuan peppers.
Iris seems to have developed a fear of her new office, after hearing about all the times she died there after the events of 514.
Barry injects King Shark with the metacure after he grapples Cisco. The cure works, transforming him back into an ordinary human.
Shay Lamden says he only remembers fragments of his time as King Shark before Tanya began working with him.
It is revealed that Grodd escaped his cell at ARGUS by planting a psychic suggestion in his guard's mind when the power was knocked out and the power dampeners in his cell turned off during The Enlightenment. The suggestion was to keep the power dampeners powered down while Grodd bid his time and gathered the information he needed for a new plan to take over Central City.
This led to Grodd's discovery of King Shark's telepathic crown and the realization he could use that to augment his telepathy to rule a whole city.
Sunset is Shay Lamden and Tanya Lamden's favorite time of day.
Joe reveals to Iris that the reason he stayed in Tibet for so long was so that he could heal himself after his confrontation with Cicada in 503.
Joe tried to help Iris work through her fears by having her punch them out on a punching bag.
The Flash Museum wrongly says that speedsters are immune to Gorilla Grodd's telepathy.
Shay Lamden elects to become King Shark again, since Grodd can't control his half-shark brain.
King Shark beats Gorilla Grodd.
Grodd is placed in a medically induced coma to prevent him from telepathically controlling his guards ever again.
Ever since being exposed to the telepathic crown, Grodd's telepathic powers are now growing without any outside stimuli. A coma was the only thing Caitlin could think of that would keep him alive without endangering his life.
Cisco also develops a new set of AI-enhanced power dampeners for Grodd's cell at ARGUS that continually upgrade to match Grodd's power level.
Cisco's favorite comfort food is Swedish Fish candy.
Barry thinks the team should approach Cicada and offer to let him take the metahuman cure.
Untelevised Adventures
It is never explained just how Grodd was returned to ARGUS custody after having become unstuck in time during Legends of Tomorrow Season 3. Presumably the Time Bureau returned him to his cell after Grodd's attack on Amaya Jiwe's village in 1992.
The Boomerang Factor.
The chief fight of the episode could have been avoided had Barry not very slowly worked his way to the downed Grodd and removed his crown at super-speed.
The Bottom Line
The episode takes its time in delivering its promised fight, but once we get it... it's there. It's not that the fight is dissatisfying, but it takes forever for Grodd to be revealed and there's something awfully strange about an episode where the main characters are acting like cardboard cut-outs while the most satisfying emotional subplot involves two characters we haven't seen in three years. The bits with Joe and Iris are okay, but feel completely disconnected from everything else.
For a filler episode based around a ludicrous comic-book idea though, this episode is oddly satisfying. But it would have been better had the premise been given two episodes for Grodd's plan to be better fleshed out, like the last time he attacked Central City and for us to have had more time to develop the conflict between Barry's desire to use the cure to save lives and Cisco and Caitlin not wanting to turn it into a weapon against every metahuman some other authority decides shouldn't have powers. There was a time and a place for this argument and it was several episodes ago when Barry first suggested using the cure against Cicada. Again, more time (and a second episode) might have helped with this. All in all, though... not a bad bit of filler.
Plot
Cisco has completed work on the metahuman cure, but they still need a willing test subject to make sure it works. Barry suggests that King Shark - currently in the custody of ARGUS - might be just the man-shark for the job. Unfortunately, their visit coincides with Gorilla Grodd's attempt to escape custody and take over Central City with his newly honed psychic powers.
Influences
Traditional monster fighting monsters movies, The Shape of Water (subplot of woman falling in love with a fish monster) and The Flash comics of John Broome.
Goofs
Where the heck is Ralph Dibny this week? I know they probably couldn't afford two animal monsters AND the stretch guy this week, but it would have been nice if something had been said about where Ralph was.
Again, it must be noted how odd it is that Cisco - an engineer - is working on a cure for metahuman powers, while Caitlin - a medical doctor - constructs the delivery system.
It also seems strange that neither Caitlin nor Cisco had previously raised their objections to forcing their cure on metahumans who don't want to lose their powers... such as when Barry first suggested using their cure against Cicada weeks ago!
Even by the standards of comic book junk science, the idea that there is no way they'll ever be able to cure King Shark if he reverts back to his shark state is pure plot convenience. Or inconvenience in this case.
Performances
I didn't realize how much I missed Jesse L. Martin as Joe until they brought him back. While his subplot here is strictly unnecessary and is only there to make us realize how much we missed him... still good to have him back. Hopefully he'll be back in action soon.
The cast in general do a good job acting to empty air and suggesting that they believe all the various CGI beasties really are there.
Artistry
While the CGI is hardly the show's best, it is probably the best we could have hoped for given the difficulties of two CGI creatures fighting. And the effects team does a good job trying to make it look like the creatures have weight in the actual environment, even if Grodd seems way too bouncy for an 800 pound gorilla.
Flash Facts
Grodd is said to have climbed up the Broome Belfry. Located at the center of Central City, this building is doubtlessly named in honor of John Broome - a legendary Silver Age comics writer, who was probably most famous for his work on The Flash.
Technobabble
The metahuman cure works by altering a person's biology on a cellular level and suppressing the dark matter inside a metahuman's body.
Dark matter levels vary from meta-human to meta-human.
The Shay Lamden of Earth-Two developed a dark matter anomaly similar to the Shay Lamden of Earth-One. The difference is that while the Earth-One Lamden developed a mutated mass of tumors, which killed him, the Earth-Two Shay Lamden's neural pathways regressed, becoming more and more shark-like in his thinking.
Dr. Tanya Lamden was able to reverse King Shark's regression using a cerebral interface that stimulates his neural outputs, which she calls a telepathic crown.
Cisco compares the telepathic crown to the Mental Activity Dampener 2.0, even before they try using the two technologies together to increase their power and act as a lure for King Shark. The two are made to interact using a logarithmic code.
After having the metahuman cure used on him, King Shark's body still has some dark matter in his pituitary gland - the result of the first cure not being made with animal physiology in mind. A second dose, modified based on his unique biology should make his transformation to an ordinary human permanent.
A shark's amygdala triggers a huge emotional response when it feels attacked. Caitlin theorizes this is why Shay Lamden remembers very little of his early days as King Shark apart from rage.
Caitlin determines that King Shark's earlier rampage was caused by a severe brain wave disruption in his frontal lobe, resulting in a complete lack of control over emotions and judgment.The way the neurotransmitters work in the telepathic crown work never would have caused that. This leads to the revelation that Grodd was trying (and failing) to telepathically control King Shark.
Sharks only see in monochrome.
With the telepathic crown, Grodd's telepathy is powerful enough to override the anti-mind-control headsets that Cisco developed.
A vibration or jolt could be used to accelerate the cell cycle in Shay Lamden, prompting a return to the dark matter cellular form. Unfortunately, saturating his metagene cells a second time will eliminate any possibility of the meta cure being able to ever restore him to normal.
When a shark is turned upside down, it enters tonic immobility - a state of paralysis.
Sharks have electroreceptor organs called ampullae of Lorenzini? It's how they detect electromagnetic fields and navigate. The organ can also attract electrical currents, which enables The Flash to wake up King Shark with a thrown lightning bolt.
Dialogue Triumphs
Sherloque: Monsieur Lamden, I should introduce myself. Sherloque Wells. You've probably heard of me. I have a question. I've been debating in my brain. What drives the King Shark? Is it the shark, or is it the man?
Shay Lamden: If you're asking should I be held accountable for my actions, my answer is simple. Yes, I should. I don't remember how many people I hurt, or who, but that's no excuse.
Sherloque: I see him out there and I see you in here in the shadows. Why is that, I wonder?
Tanya: Can you blame me? You saw his hand transform.
Sherloque: (chuckles) Yes, right. "Shark Week!" Not something you see every day, but no, I thought your hesitation occurred before that moment, not after. It was a slight hesitation, but it was there nonetheless. Again, why do you think that is?
Tanya: I don't know.
Sherloque: No? Well, perhaps I could be so bold as to offer a suggestion that it is not the hand of which you were frightened, but rather, it was seeing the face of the man that you love.
Tanya: I don't love Shay. We're friends.
Sherloque: All right, well, let's take a look at that too, shall we? So this is a friend from another Earth, for whom you left a high-paying job and for whom you have dedicated every waking moment of your life trying to help. It doesn't quite add up.
Tanya: I can't love Shay. He's my dead husband's doppelganger from Earth-2. How crazy would I have to be to fall in love with him?
Sherloque: No crazier than marrying the same woman from five different Earths. (laughs quietly) I know. I'm very good at marrying people, but not so great at staying married. Along the way, though, on these countless Earths and countless doppelgangers, I learned there is one thing that makes all of us unique. And if that is what you fell in love with, well then, perhaps a face doesn't matter that much.
Grodd: Hear your master, Humans. Soon, you will only know my will...The will of Grodd!
King Shark: Tanya, you look sad. Why?
Tanya: We found each other today, and now that connection is -
King Shark: Still here.
Tanya: Shay... What you did...
King Shark: I would do it again for you, my love.
(King Shark puts his hand against the glass of the tank. Tanya does the same.)
Continuity
Grodd was last seen in L317 as part of Damien Darhk's team. Before that, he was last seen on The Flash in 314.
King Shark and Dr. Tanya Lamden were last seen in 215.
ARGUS Director Lyla Michaels makes an appearance. She is informed of Nora's status as Barry's daughter from the future and comments that this is no stranger than finding out your son used to be your daughter - a reference to how Barry's time-traveling somehow caused Sara Diggle to become John Diggle Jr.
Joe West returns from his trip visiting Wally West in Tibet.
Joe suggests that someone besides Officer Jones might be helping Cicada out.
ARGUS hired Dr. Tanya Lamden to work with King Shark to try and find a way to improve his condition.
King Shark is agreeable to trying the cure, before he suddenly goes on a rampage.
Joe is allergic to Szechuan peppers.
Iris seems to have developed a fear of her new office, after hearing about all the times she died there after the events of 514.
Barry injects King Shark with the metacure after he grapples Cisco. The cure works, transforming him back into an ordinary human.
Shay Lamden says he only remembers fragments of his time as King Shark before Tanya began working with him.
It is revealed that Grodd escaped his cell at ARGUS by planting a psychic suggestion in his guard's mind when the power was knocked out and the power dampeners in his cell turned off during The Enlightenment. The suggestion was to keep the power dampeners powered down while Grodd bid his time and gathered the information he needed for a new plan to take over Central City.
This led to Grodd's discovery of King Shark's telepathic crown and the realization he could use that to augment his telepathy to rule a whole city.
Sunset is Shay Lamden and Tanya Lamden's favorite time of day.
Joe reveals to Iris that the reason he stayed in Tibet for so long was so that he could heal himself after his confrontation with Cicada in 503.
Joe tried to help Iris work through her fears by having her punch them out on a punching bag.
The Flash Museum wrongly says that speedsters are immune to Gorilla Grodd's telepathy.
Shay Lamden elects to become King Shark again, since Grodd can't control his half-shark brain.
King Shark beats Gorilla Grodd.
Grodd is placed in a medically induced coma to prevent him from telepathically controlling his guards ever again.
Ever since being exposed to the telepathic crown, Grodd's telepathic powers are now growing without any outside stimuli. A coma was the only thing Caitlin could think of that would keep him alive without endangering his life.
Cisco also develops a new set of AI-enhanced power dampeners for Grodd's cell at ARGUS that continually upgrade to match Grodd's power level.
Cisco's favorite comfort food is Swedish Fish candy.
Barry thinks the team should approach Cicada and offer to let him take the metahuman cure.
Untelevised Adventures
It is never explained just how Grodd was returned to ARGUS custody after having become unstuck in time during Legends of Tomorrow Season 3. Presumably the Time Bureau returned him to his cell after Grodd's attack on Amaya Jiwe's village in 1992.
The Boomerang Factor.
The chief fight of the episode could have been avoided had Barry not very slowly worked his way to the downed Grodd and removed his crown at super-speed.
The Bottom Line
The episode takes its time in delivering its promised fight, but once we get it... it's there. It's not that the fight is dissatisfying, but it takes forever for Grodd to be revealed and there's something awfully strange about an episode where the main characters are acting like cardboard cut-outs while the most satisfying emotional subplot involves two characters we haven't seen in three years. The bits with Joe and Iris are okay, but feel completely disconnected from everything else.
For a filler episode based around a ludicrous comic-book idea though, this episode is oddly satisfying. But it would have been better had the premise been given two episodes for Grodd's plan to be better fleshed out, like the last time he attacked Central City and for us to have had more time to develop the conflict between Barry's desire to use the cure to save lives and Cisco and Caitlin not wanting to turn it into a weapon against every metahuman some other authority decides shouldn't have powers. There was a time and a place for this argument and it was several episodes ago when Barry first suggested using the cure against Cicada. Again, more time (and a second episode) might have helped with this. All in all, though... not a bad bit of filler.
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