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Arrowverse week six: Supergirl blasts us to the past, Barry brings out the hero in Ralph, the Legends go Hollywood, and Slade deals with his son.

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Arrowverse Recaps: Supergirl 3×06, The Flash 4×06, Legends 3×06, Arrow 6×06

Arrowverse week six: Supergirl blasts us to the past, Barry brings out the hero in Ralph, the Legends go Hollywood, and Slade deals with his son.

Last week’s recaps

Week six of the four Arrowverse shows brings some lovely Easter eggs and a lot of Wells, among much more. One of these episodes was really great, while the others lacked a little. Here’s what happened:

Supergirl 3×06 “Midvale”

As revealed at the end of the last episode, Kara and Alex are headed home to Midvale for a few days. Though Kara is worried about post-breakup Alex, Eliza is a little more worried about Kara (who is still dealing with the loss of Mon-El). These wild emotions inevitably lead to an argument between the sisters and they go to sleep angry. Cue a flashback to ten years ago, where Kara and Alex are moody teens navigating high school while also learning how to live with each other. Though Kara’s been in the family for a year and from the flashbacks we’ve seen from previous episodes showed the younger girls getting along alright, the teenage years are wild. And speaking of wild, Supergirl recast young Kara and Alex, but I’m sure glad they did, because the new actors look SO MUCH like present-day Kara and Alex. Good job, casting director!

So at Midvale High, Kara isn’t really into school (unlike Alex, who’s both popular and smart), but she has made friends with this kid named Kenny Li, and he invites her out that night to star gaze with his telescope and computer that downloads pictures from the telescope. It goes well, though Kara shied out of a kiss, and all is swell, until the next day when Kenny is found dead in the woods. Kenny wasn’t exactly popular and from his telescope, he had a lot of dirt on people, so there are a lot of suspects, and a heartbroken and angry Kara intends to find out who did it. And she intends to go it alone (despite the police officer’s recommendation to stay away from a murder case), but Alex reveals that Kenny was secretly tutoring her in calc, so she wants to help. So the sisters team up, and in the woods, they find Kenny’s laptop. It’s too damaged for them to access, but Kara suggests they send it to Clark’s friend Chloe, who’s good with tech and even has a Wall Of Weird. At this point, I almost screamed, because Kara just confirmed that Supergirl and aspects of Smallville exist in the same world and that’s sure to make a lot of people (like myself) very happy. Easter eggs like that are what makes superhero shows like this so great. Obviously the two shows can’t be set in the same world (or on the same Earth, to be technical) due to the way Kara was introduced in Smallville, or due to the double Jimmys, but the fact that there on Earth 38, there’s a Chloe helping Clark is still very good to know! Anyway, the sisters do manage to find an email on Kenny’s laptop from Kenny to their teacher, Mr. Bernard. Attached is a picture of Mr. Bernard in a car kissing Josie, Alex’s best friend, which is problematic for several reasons. One, Josie is a minor, so that’s illegal. Two, it makes Mr. Bernard the number one suspect in Kenny’s murder. Before going to the police (and while they wait for Chloe to do her thing), Alex confronts Josie at school. It doesn’t go well. Josie is in love with the guy, even though Alex makes quite clear how illegal that is, and she’s is sure that Mr. Berndard didn’t kill Kenny. Alex doesn’t believe this, though, and calls in a tip to the cops.

After school, Kara and Alex are walking home and a car tries to run them over. Kara manages to save them with her powers, but they’re sure it’s Mr. Bernard because they know the secret. Back at home, though, Kara has a visitor waiting. She thinks it’s her mom at first (because this lady is played by the same actress who plays her mom) but this lady introduces herself as an FBI agent who knows about Kara and Clark. The lady suggests that Kara stop using her powers, given she’s young and could get Alex killed. Kara promises, though I think she’s a little thrown by how much this lady looks like her mom. The lady leaves, though we see her get into a car and transform into a satisfied looking J’onn J’onzz, which is amazing. He knew of Kara and Alex way back then and was doing his space-dad duty of protecting them even then. 

After Josie told Alex that Mr. Bernard is in jail and therefore didn’t try and run them over, Alex goes to find the police officer at school and mentions Kenny’s laptop of pictures. He pulls her aside so she could tell him more. As this happens, Chloe gets back to Kara with all the pictures from Kenny’s computer, and as Kara is going through them, she sees one of the police officer selling drugs. She calls Alex in a panic, but the cop already has a gun to Alex, and Alex only barely manages to yell her location over the phone. And though she promised, Kara uses her powers to save Alex, and this changes the girls’ relationship. They solved the murder and are closer for it. Cut back to present day and grown-up Alex and Kara wake up to a new day. They reminisce about Kenny and their work together, and they apologize for their fight from the night before. Then they pack up and hit the road, going back to the DEO as they sing “Sweet Escape” by Gwen Stefani.

All in all, a fantastic episode. Alex and Kara’s sisterly bond was and is such a huge draw to Supergirl, and so to get a full and fun episode where we get to see the girls solve the first of what we know to be many crimes and grow as people is great. It was just perfect, and so well done. And I can’t get over that Smallville aspect either. I mean, not only did the episode have a very wonderful Smallville-esque feel, I really hope we get more references in future episodes (or just bring in and introduce a recast Chloe. That’d be great too!). That fact that Kara lives on a different Earth than Barry even solves the double Green Arrow issue. Anyway, this was one of the best Supergirl episodes in a while, and I am thrilled.

 Supergirl 3x06 Young Kara and Alex

The Flash 4×06 “When Harry Met Harry”

You’d think, based on this episode’s title, that this episode would be centered around Harry. And while he does have a larger role in it, he was sidelined pretty hard. While Barry works with Ralph, Harry and Cisco decide to work on the mystery that is DeVoe. As smart as those two are, they agree they’ll need more help to figure out who he is. Luckily, Harry has friends, which, using his multi-dimensional communicator, he calls upon. Only his friends are actually just versions of himself from other Earths. There’s pretentious German Harry, southern Hefner Harry, and futuristic cyborg Harry. And in typical Harry Wells fashion, they don’t get along well, and poor Cisco is left to argue with what he dubs The Council Of Wells. While I’ve liked meeting all the versions of Wells so far, this is a bit too cheesy for my tastes…

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As for Barry, he’s stuck with the task of training Ralph. While I found our stretchy friend kind of annoying last episode, he was tolerable this time. Cisco fashioned a hideous blue stretchy jumpsuit prototype for him to wear while out on the streets with the Flash. He hates it, but is eager to join in on the meta catching, and right on time, as they’ve found a new meta to target: Mina Chayton. She’s known as the Black Bison, and she’s an indigenous woman on a mission to steal back Sioux artifacts from museums. She’s been at this a while and is now looking for pieces of a bison necklace but she’s now got meta powers that allow her to give temporary life to inanimate objects so they can attack any opposers on her behalf. In Barry and Ralph’s several encounters with her, Ralph struggles to understand the concept of saving people before catching metas, but after inadvertently landing a little girl in the hospital, it takes an empowering speech from Barry about goodness and the crushing weight of guilt to help him see the light. So in their final encounter with Mina at a museum, where the heroes are up against a T-Rex skeleton that is not nearly as friendly as the one in Night At The Museum, Ralph saves a bystanding security guard instead of Mina, but it all works out because Barry ends up catching her. Mina is shipped off to prison with her fellow captured bus metas. And to really show Ralph’s character development, he ends up anonymously mailing the Sioux bison necklace back to the Sioux reserve, because as much as Mina’s actions were bad, she kind of was right to fight for what belonged to her people. Ralph even goes to the hospital to visit the little girl and uses his arm to make balloon animals, which is great and all, but he’s not in costume and not even trying to hide his abilities.

As for the Cisco and the Council of the Wells, they bicker for a while but eventually agree to work together because they’re all accomplished in different ways (and because Cisco forces Harry to understand that he must respect himself to work with himself and all his forms). We don’t really see how, but they do narrow down the list of possible DeVoes to one, a Clifford Devoe, who lives not too far away in a normal house on a normal street. So Barry and Joe decide to pay him a visit, with the rest of the team on standby. But DeVoe is the Thinker, and he’s planned for all of this. When Barry rings the doorbell, the Thinker’s assistant answers and then introduces them to her husband, a normal looking man in a wheelchair. He greets them with a friendly smile, so of course the whole STAR Labs crew is beyond confused. 

And that’s the end of the episode. Since we know DeVoe is apparently going to be one of Barry’s biggest foes and we know that he’s been not only setting them all up but watching them as well, it makes that last scene all the more interesting. For once we the viewers know something the team doesn’t. And this guy isn’t sloppy, so I think it’ll be kind of cool to watch the team figure this one out. As for this specific episode though, while it was alright, it wasn’t anything spectacular. Average, I’d say. 

 The Flash 4x06 Council of Wells

Legends Of Tomorrow 3×06 “Helen Hunt”

Though Dahrk is on the loose again, the Legends have found another anachronism to deal with. Helen Of Troy has shown up in Hollywood circa 1937, where her beauty gets her the lead role in a movie actually about herself. But before the Legends can fly off and deal with her, they have another small problem on their ship. While trying to separate Jax and Stein’s powers, Ray hooks them up to a machine and it explodes. There’s no damage to anything, but Jax and Stein do manage to switch bodies, making for a very amusing episode of Legends. We have young and hip Jax stuck inside the body of an old man, and sharp-tongued and stubborn Stein inside Jax’s arthritis-free body. They don’t have time to reverse them though, because the team has to go retrieve Helen. The thing about Helen is that she’s so beautiful, all men around her can’t help but act out. Fights start between movie crew members and even between competing film companies. And if you thought that Ray, Nate, and Mick would be able to handle themselves because they have a mission to do, you’d be dead wrong. The only guy not losing his mind is Stein, in Jax’s body, because he spots another lady on set: Hedy Lamarr, a pretty actress and inventor.

The Legends manage to find Helen, but she refuses to go with them because she quite likes her new life in Hollywood. Especially now that she’s got this great agent, and guess who it is. No, seriously, guess. Guess who’s there to mess with the Legends’ work. If you guessed Damien Dahrk, you’d be right. And Dahrk isn’t alone. He’s also brought that water demon lady Kuasa and that evil magic lady Eleanor, and as an added fun bonus, he reveals that Eleanor is actually his daughter (which now makes the last episode make a lot more sense!). Dahrk tries to convince Sara and the Legends to just leave. But Sara ain’t about to back down from a fight, even if half her team is acting up. She benches all the boys and instead takes Zari and Amaya to go find Helen again. They do succeed in getting her on the Waverider, but all of the sudden it’s not fit for flying. You see, Hedy isn’t loving her work at the movie studio and is about to quit, and if she does, she’ll never invent the things she does, meaning the fundamental science the Waverider is built upon will never exist. So now the Legends have to go back out into Hollywood and find Hedy. Stein (in Jax’s body) takes on this task, which is good because everyone else’s attention turns to the various fights about to go down. Kuasa attacks Amaya and Zari on the ship, and in that fight she reveals that Amaya is actually her grandmother. She is about to explain how she was supposed to get the totem that her sister (Mari) has, but Helen sneaks up and stabs her. The other fight going on is between Sara and Dahrk. They have a good old-fashioned sword fight, but eventually, Eleanor steps in and uses her magic to almost kill Sara. Stein and Jax, under Hedy’s advice, join to make Firestorm, and this not only allows the Legends to sent Dahrk and Eleanor away (for now) but it also reverses the body switch. 

Since Stein did manage to convince Hedy to stick with her dreams, allowing the Waverider to power back up (and take care of comatose Sara). They still have to deal with Helen though, who desperately does not want to return to her life in Troy with all the annoying men. So without Sara’s around to make a call, Zari makes the executive decision to instead bring Helen somewhere where they are no men: Themyscria! First a Smallville reference in Supergirl and now a Wonder Woman reference in Legends? DC has blessed us this week. 

A decent episode, overall. Though I found Helen kind of annoying, the girl power was strong, and the Freaky Friday routine was perfectly hilarious. Legends is the only DC show in which such a scenario could work. I am getting real tired of Dahrk, though, and the 1930’s scene wasn’t anything exciting. 

 Legends Of Tomorrow 3x06 Damien Dahrk

Arrow 6×06 “Promises Kept”

This episode picks up right where we left off last week – Slade facing his evil son. And while there are some more Slade and Joe flashbacks this week, they’re kind of useful. We see that is was Joe who rescued Slade of Lian Yu all those years ago, and things were going well for a while between the two of them. They were training alongside each other and Slade was doing okay despite the Mirakuru for a bit. But then he started having visions of Shado again, and he remembered his promise to kill Oliver, who just returned home to Starling City since his disappearance. This essentially triggers Slade into becoming Deathstroke again. Back in present day, though Slade agrees to help his son on his mission, he fails to follow through when that mission involves first killing Oliver. For a minute or two, we do wonder if Slade will actually do it, but in the end, Slade cuts Oliver free and they fight their way out. But Slade is not giving up on his son just yet. They meet again and Slade tries to convince Joe to stop his work, even saying that Joe tried to become the bad, drugged up version of his father. Then Joe reveals that on the camping trip all those years ago (way before the Mirakuru), Joe witnessed Slade kill a spy, and from then on, Joe became like his father in all the worst ways, even killing his own brother Grant shortly after (Slade didn’t know of Grant’s existence, and yes, that is the Grant that the Legends met in that one stream of time). Joe manages to escape the confrontation, so Slade sends Oliver home. As for Slade, he’s decided to go follow Joe and try and save him still. We’ll see him around, I’m sure.

Over in Star City, Diggle’s drug use is finally mentioned again. He’s still using, and he’s keeping it from Lyla too (who is back and amazing). But then Team Arrow decided to target a group of people stealing technology that is traced back to this underground drug production warehouse, the same one that supplies Diggle. As he faces the end of his supply, Diggle finally comes clean to Lyla, who, bless her soul, is understanding and compassionate. She understands that as the acting Green Arrow, he needs to physically be capable, so she doesn’t even force him to stop using it. When the team infiltrates the drug warehouse, Diggle spots a whole crate full of his precious drugs, but then the leader, known as the Dragon, sets the place ablaze, and Diggle is forced to flee. With no more drugs, Diggle decides to come clean to the team. And like Lyla, they’re understanding. Curtis even offers to help find a solution to his nerve issue. 

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As for Oliver, who has returned home to William and Felicity, he feels even more confident in his choice to leave Team Arrow. I guess seeing all the damage Slade did to his son has inspired him to be better. So for anyone eagerly awaiting the day Oliver dons that green hood again, it looks like you’ll be waiting a while. 

While I didn’t hate Slade and Joe’s focus this episode, the many flashbacks did get a bit confusing, and I still don’t know how this’ll tie into Team Arrow’s overall story this season (or if it ever will). And while I’m very glad that Diggle’s drug use didn’t lead to something awful, I did find it all rather underwhelming tonight. This episode wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t a standout by any means. Even the action and the dialogue was rather boring. Step it up, Arrow.

 Arrow 6x06 Slade and Joe

And that’s week six for the Arrowverse. The best episode of the four was, hands down, Supergirl. So much about that episode was right. Though Legends of Tomorrow and The Flash both had decent episodes, Supergirl really stood out this week. Do you agree with me?

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