This week in superhero TV
May. 21st, 2017 07:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urthThese are mostly all shorter than you might expect; some are actually short because I didn’t have much to say, and some are just shorter than you would think.
Supergirl 2x21
That was pretty good, though as with most season ending arcs I’m sure I’m going to need to see it as one story to really judge whether it was actually good. It’s good that in the end they explained where Superman was, now I just wonder where Lyra is. It was good to have Cat back, though I’m not entirely sure her role here works, but I’m going to hold off really judging that. I just don’t have much to say, we’ll see if I ultimately do have thoughts on the finale as a whole next week, but I’m at least confident it will turn out okay.
Agents of SHIELD 4x22
So...that happened. I’m not real sure how I feel about this episode, and I’m not all that sure that in this case it will be made more clear by a full rewatch to judge as a story rather than episodes. That ending is weird, I don’t just mean the very end but as an ending to the story, and I’m not sure it’s all together satisfying. I will be back for next season, as much as I was largely disappointed in this last arc I’ve overall liked this season enough to stick with it more (once I realized Inhumans was going to be a short term series, I figured AoS was going to get renewed for s5, but am happy it was confirmed before this aired) and at least to start with on a week-to-week viewing; whether that sticks will depend on how next season goes.
The Flash 3x22
So...that also happened. I sort of figured when the opening caption was “24 hours until Iris dies” that they were spelling it out for us that that was exactly what was going to happen, I didn’t exactly expect it to be this episode which makes me wonder if it’s going to be undone in the next but it definitely happened.
Because I’m me though, I need to talk more about the crossover elements. While it’s always good to see Lyla (after she was ignored so much of the season) and in the end I can’t exactly fault her for agreeing to give them access to the alien tech in the name of saving Iris, I wish she’d put some actual stipulations on it, like returning it to ARGUS after this mission. Because the mere fact that Snart is there proves Barry hasn’t learned a damn thing about messing with time for his own gain. You want to talk about potentially breaking time, getting Snart killed would have broken it more than it already is; granted Mick or Ray might have ended up holding down the button to destroy the Oculus, but Barry needs to stop this. And as much as I might still care about baby Sara, I don’t expect it to be that for the characters; Lyla’s 100% right not to trust Barry just because he hasn’t learned the whole power and responsibility thing that he really should have had to learn at some point.
Also, I can’t quite figure out when this is supposed to happen in LoT s1, I was sort of assuming it was when they stranded Mick since we never knew when that happened (unless I’ve just forgotten) and it could have been in 19th century Siberia, it would fit well enough. But for one that seemed to take like an hour to drop Mick off the ship and for two Len isn’t acting like he just had to do that to his friend, and for three he didn’t have his hand broken off until he found out Mick was Chronos. On another note, Len, you were also already on a mission to help some hopeless romantic save his wife from dying in a way time won’t let change; you’re really just exchanging one fool’s quest for another.
Arrow 5x22
So that was basically all setup without much to really sink one’s teeth into. I like some of the things it’s setting up, Nyssa and Slade mainly (I’m still struggling to handle Malcolm after the shit he got up to over on LoT); I don’t like the fact that it’s pretty hard to think everyone will get out of this alive and there’s no one I can quite eliminate from consideration. Considering how much these episode are clearly done as a reflection on the last five years (in both time periods) it’s a shame Sara and Ray probably aren’t going to be part of the resolution. I also wonder when this happens in relation to the Flash episode we just had, either way it’s explainable that Barry doesn’t come to help, though if it’s after you’d think birthday celebrations would maybe still not be quite kosher (unless things get undone in the Flash finale, but then why can’t Barry come as backup?). Also, couldn’t Oliver’s emergency backup team have included Mari and Tatsu, maybe Roy after all this time (yeah...Roy should be there for this culmination battle), and where is Rory? But I do like the vailed reference to Legends explaining why Ra’s had Nyssa go and hang out around Lian Yu sometimes.
But let’s talk a little about the way they’re writing Oliver/Felicity all of a sudden. I say all of a sudden, because is how it should have been written all year but only has for a few episodes at the end. The rest of the team (especially the ones who have been with them for a while) should have always had opinions about the way their relationship has been this season. They should have always been uncertain how to be around each other (I’ve read it into them sometimes but it was rarely made textual) and that should have been a struggle; they should have always had issues with the other dating and trying to move on (again, it’s not entirely not there, but it’s not exactly there either); the show basically never even refereed to them as exes until the last few episodes. I’m actually not sure what to make of the fact that suddenly they are writing them this way; it has some vibe that they might kill Felicity off, but that would be incredibly redundant not to mention a terrible move; it seems more likely that time skip I keep predicting is coming (Isis dying also makes think it’s coming) and they’ll be together on the other side of it, so the writers wanted to actually have some current setup for that.
These thoughts are really scattered, but it was an okay episode, could have certainly been better, but we’ll see how it all ends.
Supergirl 2x21
That was pretty good, though as with most season ending arcs I’m sure I’m going to need to see it as one story to really judge whether it was actually good. It’s good that in the end they explained where Superman was, now I just wonder where Lyra is. It was good to have Cat back, though I’m not entirely sure her role here works, but I’m going to hold off really judging that. I just don’t have much to say, we’ll see if I ultimately do have thoughts on the finale as a whole next week, but I’m at least confident it will turn out okay.
Agents of SHIELD 4x22
So...that happened. I’m not real sure how I feel about this episode, and I’m not all that sure that in this case it will be made more clear by a full rewatch to judge as a story rather than episodes. That ending is weird, I don’t just mean the very end but as an ending to the story, and I’m not sure it’s all together satisfying. I will be back for next season, as much as I was largely disappointed in this last arc I’ve overall liked this season enough to stick with it more (once I realized Inhumans was going to be a short term series, I figured AoS was going to get renewed for s5, but am happy it was confirmed before this aired) and at least to start with on a week-to-week viewing; whether that sticks will depend on how next season goes.
The Flash 3x22
So...that also happened. I sort of figured when the opening caption was “24 hours until Iris dies” that they were spelling it out for us that that was exactly what was going to happen, I didn’t exactly expect it to be this episode which makes me wonder if it’s going to be undone in the next but it definitely happened.
Because I’m me though, I need to talk more about the crossover elements. While it’s always good to see Lyla (after she was ignored so much of the season) and in the end I can’t exactly fault her for agreeing to give them access to the alien tech in the name of saving Iris, I wish she’d put some actual stipulations on it, like returning it to ARGUS after this mission. Because the mere fact that Snart is there proves Barry hasn’t learned a damn thing about messing with time for his own gain. You want to talk about potentially breaking time, getting Snart killed would have broken it more than it already is; granted Mick or Ray might have ended up holding down the button to destroy the Oculus, but Barry needs to stop this. And as much as I might still care about baby Sara, I don’t expect it to be that for the characters; Lyla’s 100% right not to trust Barry just because he hasn’t learned the whole power and responsibility thing that he really should have had to learn at some point.
Also, I can’t quite figure out when this is supposed to happen in LoT s1, I was sort of assuming it was when they stranded Mick since we never knew when that happened (unless I’ve just forgotten) and it could have been in 19th century Siberia, it would fit well enough. But for one that seemed to take like an hour to drop Mick off the ship and for two Len isn’t acting like he just had to do that to his friend, and for three he didn’t have his hand broken off until he found out Mick was Chronos. On another note, Len, you were also already on a mission to help some hopeless romantic save his wife from dying in a way time won’t let change; you’re really just exchanging one fool’s quest for another.
Arrow 5x22
So that was basically all setup without much to really sink one’s teeth into. I like some of the things it’s setting up, Nyssa and Slade mainly (I’m still struggling to handle Malcolm after the shit he got up to over on LoT); I don’t like the fact that it’s pretty hard to think everyone will get out of this alive and there’s no one I can quite eliminate from consideration. Considering how much these episode are clearly done as a reflection on the last five years (in both time periods) it’s a shame Sara and Ray probably aren’t going to be part of the resolution. I also wonder when this happens in relation to the Flash episode we just had, either way it’s explainable that Barry doesn’t come to help, though if it’s after you’d think birthday celebrations would maybe still not be quite kosher (unless things get undone in the Flash finale, but then why can’t Barry come as backup?). Also, couldn’t Oliver’s emergency backup team have included Mari and Tatsu, maybe Roy after all this time (yeah...Roy should be there for this culmination battle), and where is Rory? But I do like the vailed reference to Legends explaining why Ra’s had Nyssa go and hang out around Lian Yu sometimes.
But let’s talk a little about the way they’re writing Oliver/Felicity all of a sudden. I say all of a sudden, because is how it should have been written all year but only has for a few episodes at the end. The rest of the team (especially the ones who have been with them for a while) should have always had opinions about the way their relationship has been this season. They should have always been uncertain how to be around each other (I’ve read it into them sometimes but it was rarely made textual) and that should have been a struggle; they should have always had issues with the other dating and trying to move on (again, it’s not entirely not there, but it’s not exactly there either); the show basically never even refereed to them as exes until the last few episodes. I’m actually not sure what to make of the fact that suddenly they are writing them this way; it has some vibe that they might kill Felicity off, but that would be incredibly redundant not to mention a terrible move; it seems more likely that time skip I keep predicting is coming (Isis dying also makes think it’s coming) and they’ll be together on the other side of it, so the writers wanted to actually have some current setup for that.
These thoughts are really scattered, but it was an okay episode, could have certainly been better, but we’ll see how it all ends.
