Saturday 2 April 2016

REVIEW: FLASH 2-16, SUPERGIRL 1-16 & 1-18

TRAJECTORY

A pretty standard Flash episode, with some moving forward of the overall plot to make it worthwhile. Caitlin continues to be not entirely unnecessary by allowing one of her old friends to enter the plot as a one-off villain. Trajectory is pure, by-the-books Flash villainery, with the slight twist of being the first female speedster on the show. Handily, she not only sets up how whiney Jesse can become Jesse Quick, the lady Flash - with a hastily vacated outfit to boot. Good fun times on the dancefloor with Cisco, while the Iris subplot grinds along like the world's most boring freight train. Wells, and his single-minded obsession with protecting his daughter, continues to be the core of the programme.

FALLING

I think I miss a lot of the nods on this series due to not being American I take it The Talk is a major show in the States? It looks dreadful. Anyway, this is a pretty spot-on episode of Supergirl, with the lady herself turned into a class one bitch by red Kryptonite. Why is it that "evil" versions of female characters are always characterised as being confident, sexually and otherwise? Aside from this slightly questionable aspect of a usually feminist series, this is a fine story, with Benoist on top form. It's good to see the anti-Supergirl backlash arrive with a good reason, and you can understand Kara lashing out at Cat even considering the Kryptonite effects. Another fun bit of DC lore in bringing a Khund in as an alien heavy. Why is Maxwell Lord still in this? His whole purpose here is to make the Kryptonite, be annoying for a bit, then come good for a while. Exciting moments as Hank reveals himself to all as the Martian Manhunter, setting up some sinister developments in...

MANHUNTER 

Too much of this episode is tied up in the Kara/James/Lucy triangle (it was a quadrilateral, but now Winn is too busy fawning over Siobhan). At least this moves things on in that area, because Jimmy isn't interesting enough to maintain this much of a romantic subplot for much longer. Much better is the evil side of the US military storming the DEO and taking both Manhunter and Alex into interrogative custody. Big revelations in this episode, not least concerning Jeremiah Danvers maybe possibly being alive, the existence of the horrific labs of Project Cadmus (where Superboy is created in the comics) and Kara coming out as Supergirl to Lucy. Less enthused by Siobhan's bitch rampage and her sudden development of superpowers, though.

WORLDS FINEST

It's crossover time! This is just lovely, bringing TV's too most adorable superheroes together at last. It's seems strangely low key for such an event. While having Siobhan/Silver Banshee and Livewire team up to take on Supergirl constitutes a fairly significant threat, having the greatest heroes of two worlds join forces would suggest a cataclysmic battle was on the cards. As it is, it looks like that'll be coming next week (great cliffhanger). "Worlds Finest" boasts some wonderful chemistry between its lead and its guest. Winn gets to be more appealing than he has since day one by basically being Cisco for the duration of the episode, while James almost becomes interesting - and at least Kara's moving on up in that direction. There are some wonderful Cat moments, a smutty joke, a namecheck for Bernie Sanders and the cutest "regular folk to the rescue" moment ever. Although being stopped by firemen does make both Livewire and Silver Banshee look a little feeble, and by extension, Supergirl and Flash look less impressive. It doesn't matter though, this is a joy. Fun fact: Mariah Carey exists both on Earth-One and Earth-Three (which is what I'll call Supergirl's world until told otherwise). There's a nice bit of fun-poking at the CW too. This episode has in spades what Batman v Superman lacks: simple fun. Watch with a Gleek for the full effect.




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