Last episode recaps: The Flash, Arrow / Supergirl

This week, Supergirl is finally back, The Flash steps up its game at the end of the episode, and Arrow misses the mark with its villain-centric episode. Here's what happened:

Supergirl 3×14 "Schott Through The Heart"

It's been two months since Kara and co have been on our screens, but they're finally back! And the episode starts with probably the best opener I've ever seen in the whole Arrowverse: a karaoke montage. The whole gang takes turns getting up and belting out a tune. Though the fun comes to an end when Winn gets up, and before he can sing, he sees a news report on a TV saying that his father, the crazy Toy Maker, is dead. He quickly exits the building and James follows him out. Winn's a mess of emotions because he's a little sad but also is not at all sad because he doesn't care about his crazy father. Nevertheless, a day or two later, Winn and everyone gathers at a cemetery to lower the casket. As they do, a woman (played by Laurie Metcalf) approaches. It's Winn's mother, named Mary, but he isn't pleased to see her as it's been 20 years since she walked out on him. As they bicker, the casket is slowly lowered, and Kara hears ticking. She hurries into her Supergirl suit and comes back in time to cover Winn and his mom from the bomb that goes off. Everyone is okay, but they're all a little confused. Later at the DEO, Winn is sure that the bomb was just his father's weird last hurrah and had prison guards verify the death, but later when Winn agrees to talk to Mary, some new information comes to light. She reveals that the reason why she walked out on Winn is because his father said he'd kill Winn if she didn't. Winn doesn't believe this and explains that he strongly resents her for leaving him alone after his father went crazy, but then the DEO is attacked by robotic flying monkeys who write 'Surrender, Mary' in the sky. Kara and James fight them off (because suit-less James is better than trained DEO agents, right?).

Meanwhile, Alex decides that J'onn and M'yrnn need to have a housewarming dinner, so they invite her and Kara over (though Kara is busy with the Winn stuff and can't attend). Nevertheless, it's a nice dinner and the three of them get along and chat. However, while J'onn is preparing the dessert, Alex is talking with M'yrnn and notices that he's forgetting things. He forgot about his granddaughters and earlier he forgot she was even coming over for dinner. When she suggests he tells J'onn, he gets angry and defensive and ends up kicking her out of the house. 

Back at the DEO, Kara chats with Mary, and James talks with Winn, and both Schotts are encouraged to keep an open mind. So Winn is dissecting a robot monkey when Mary approaches and starts to help. She's apparently pretty good with robotics and admits to Winn that his father taught her a lot when they first met. She also says that he was crazy and abusive and controlling the whole time, and when she tried to escape with little Winn to a shelter, he found them and almost drove them off the road. It was then that he threatened little Winn's life, so she left to protect him. This is a very powerful and emotional scene, and both actors do it very well. You genuinely feel for both of them. Anyway as they dig around in the robot monkey, Mary find a piece with a logo, and instead of telling anyone, she excuses herself for a break, steals a DEO gun, and sneaks off to a warehouse. In it, she meets a girl claiming to be the Toy Man's apprentice. She says she worked at the prison where she met Winn Sr. and he taught her all his tricks so she could take over and complete his mission after he died. The woman leaves a message for the DEO saying she'll trade Mary's life for Winn's, so Winn, James, Kara, and Mon-El gear up to go save her. The warehouse is rigged with robots, so they have to work hard to stay alive and find Mary. Luckily they have some trick of their own. Mon-El can do magic with his cape, and Winn has a series of little robotic toys with him, so they manage to save Mary and knock out the woman.

Later at the bar, Winn and Mary make up and agree to be a part of each other's lives (then they sing "Take On Me" on karaoke). Kara and Mon-El also chat. Earlier he told her that he found out that Imra and Brainiac conspired against him to bring them all to this time, but Kara says that she doesn't want to be the one he vents to (which is a good call, good on you, Kara). However, Mon-El says that the reason they came here was actually to find Blight, who is one of the World Killers. Since Mon-El has future knowledge, he agrees to help Kara and train her a little (how the tables have turned). We also see J'onn arrive at the bar, looking a little sad because we know M'yrnn finally told J'onn about his memory issues. The last scene is James getting a call from Lena, who he'd been trying to reach all episode. Lena insists she's just been busy with work and all is good, but then we see her in a very hi-tech lab with Sam lying in a weird bed. Doesn't look like all is good to me, Lena…

Overall, this was a filler episode, but I enjoyed it. It's about time Winn got the spotlight, and the fact that we already knew about the Toy Maker from season one made it fit in well. Laurie Metcalf played his mom really well, and it was a decent way to ease us back into Supergirl after the long break. 

The Flash 4×18 "Lose Yourself"

There is only one more missing Bus Meta left, so Team Flash is putting all their effort into finding him. His name is Edwin Gauss. Barry and Ralph find the bus that Ralph and the metas were all on, and they use a dark matter residue scanner to see that Edwin seemed to just disappear at the time of the incident. The big conflict between Barry and Ralph this episode is that Ralph thinks they should kill DeVoe if they get the chance, but Barry, ever the honourable hero, is adamant that there is always another way. Back at STAR Labs, Harry shows the team a metal tool called the Sonic Scepter that emits sonic waves like Izzy's powers. Harry is super psyched about this and a bunch of other science, all thanks to his thinking cap. This concerns Joe and Cisco. Joe later confronts Harry about it, but he insists he is not addicted to the cap nor did he use dark matter. But then Joe sees him enter Wells' secret room, so Harry is clearly hiding something.

The Team gets an alert about a pocket dimension opening across town, so they suit up, expecting to meet DeVoe, but instead they see Edwin, minding his own business. When he sees Team Flash, he's startled and falls back into a pocket dimension and disappears. At least they now know that his power is to make pocket dimensions. So when a few more open around town, they investigate. In one dimension they find a bunch of hippies, but they manage to locate Edwin. Only they're not the only ones to find him. One of DeVoe's samurai find them and even stabs Caitlin. She's okay, and they manage to get Edwin safe in STAR Labs. Edwin is a chatterbox and may or may not be a stoner, but he tells Ralph that he one time managed to travel to DeVoe's secret lair. Knowing he can do it again, Ralph suits up and plans to go kill DeVoe himself. Barry tries to stop him, but Ralph puts the Sonic Scepter inside his rubbery body and Barry has to knock him out to stop him from going to DeVoe. When Ralph wakes up, the two chat and Ralph says that Team Flash is his family, so he'd happily die to protect them. As nice as this sentiment is, Barry says they want Ralph alive and part of the team. Honestly, I totally understand where Ralph is coming from. DeVoe is the most diabolical foe Barry has had, and I really don't think just keeping him in their little jail will really stop the man who's been consistently three steps ahead. 

Though Ralph was wrong to try and go for blood, Barry and Iris decide that his plan to have Edwin open the pocket to DeVoe's lab wasn't bad, so Team Flash agrees to try it. Barry, Cisco, and Killer Frost go, but as soon as they use the Sonic Scepter, they realize the DeVoe they're seeing is a hologram. Where is the real DeVoe and Marlize? They traveled to STAR Labs. This begins the most intense fifteen minutes of The Flash in a while. Harry needs equipment to hack the computers that DeVoe is controlling, so he, Iris, and Joe split up. Joe faces up against another robot samurai, and Iris impressively holds her own against Marlize (though honestly I don't believe that Iris could really beat Marlize in a fight). Harry then grabs his thinking cap and has Gideon load more dark matter into it (keyword: more. Harry, you liar). He ends up overloading and knocking himself out. As for Ralph, he goes up against DeVoe (who's still in Izzy's body). DeVoe creates a large T-Rex skeleton for Ralph to fight, but that's just a distraction because by the time he does, DeVoe has killed Edwin and taken over that body. Luckily Ralph still has the Sonic Scepter in his body, and he uses it successfully (so I guess there were two because Harry did give one to Barry?). By the time Barry, Cisco, and Killer Frost get back, Ralph has got DeVoe in power dampening cuffs, and Barry is super proud that Ralph didn't turn to killing. Ralph is proud too, and even says he's ready to learn more from Barry. But unfortunately, Ralph didn't turn on the cuffs (or maybe DeVoe managed to deactivate them), so DeVoe breaks them off, uses Janet's gravity powers to pin Barry to the ground, and proceeds to kill Ralph. Had you told me a few weeks ago that I'd be in tears over Ralph Dibny, I would not have believed you, but here I am. Barry is helpless, and by the time Cisco and Killer Frost get there, it's too late. They can't even fight DeVoe as he manages to use Cisco's vibe against him and turn Killer Frost back into Caitlin. DeVoe is now in Ralph's body and says that he knows everything Barry tried to teach Ralph. 

So now DeVoe has killed all the Bus Metas, and Team Flash (and myself) is super bummed. Barry runs off to Ralph's apartment and decides to clear it out. It's a sad scene because as much as Barry and Ralph argued a lot, they were on the same side and did care for each other. Over at STAR Labs, they also figure out that since Caitlin touched DeVoe, he managed to mess with her meta genes so Killer Frost is gone. Caitlin isn't thrilled with this since earlier she reveals that she and her evil side have been getting along and she's been working on controlling the transition between them. What does this mean for Caitlin now? I mean, never loved Killer Frost, but she was useful. And did DeVoe absorb her too, or is she just gone? 

The last scene is of Marlize and DeVoe back in their lair. With Ralph's powers, he's able to change his face back into original DeVoe. He also has a tube of dark matter that he took from Harry because he knew that Harry would use it. DeVoe says that his plans are right on track, and this is terrifying. 

All in all, a pretty good episode. As I said, the last fifteen minutes were really intense, and I'm shocked that DeVoe managed to kill Ralph. I should have seen it coming, but I did not, and because I didn't, I was treated to some emotions. I'm genuinely excited to see what happens next and how Team Flash handles this. 

Arrow 6×19 "The Dragon"

Despite the title, this episode was pretty bad. Instead of focusing on lone wolf Oliver, it focused on Diaz and his activities. Perhaps an episode like this would have been cool last season because Adrian Chase was a pretty interesting villain, but this season, with a villain as boring as Diaz, it just did not float my boat. The episode started with a quick flashback to an orphanage where little Diaz was being bullied and abused by an older orphan named Jesse. Cut to present day where Diaz and Laurel (in a weird black bob wig) are meeting with a man named Eric Cartier, who is the son of a member of The Quadrant. Diaz wants in on the Quadrant because it is a large and powerful criminal group (think Mafia) who operate out of Blüdhaven. Unfortunately, the Quadrant doesn't want Diaz, even with his control over Star City. They have him 'audition' by breaking into a building and finding Quadrant members. It's all for naught, though, because then Eric shoots Diaz and a Quadrant man. Diaz goes down, but he was anticipating this move and wore a bullet-proof vest. Then he and Laurel go after Eric for revenge, tying him down and beating him up to death. After that, Diaz and Laurel go to Quadrant HQ and find Eric's father and the other members. Eric's father isn't too thrilled with the death of his son and also refuses Diaz a seat in the group, so Diaz kills him. A lady at the table allows Diaz to then take the now-vacant seat. So now Diaz has some more evil buddies. You'd think this would be enough for Diaz, but nope. He brings Laurel along on another little mission. He kidnaps a man who he reveals to be his old bully, Jesse. As revenge, he douses Jesse with lighter fluid and lights him up. Laurel is clearly uncomfortable with this but really makes no effort to stop the murder. 

Luckily, Diaz and Laurel weren't the only Arrow characters we saw this episode. In between Diaz's adventures, we saw Felicity and Curtis back to work on Helix. It's a little awkward given the OTA/NTA drama, but they talk it out a little, and Curtis is supportive when Felicity admits her worries for Oliver and his new solo attitude. Her worries are not eased as she watches the news and sees that the Green Arrow was at the scene of an explosion and is missing. When she can't reach Oliver, she hurries home in a panic, but Oliver is there and totally okay. Felicity can't help but express her stresses and feelings of helplessness to Oliver, but Oliver simply assures her that he'll always come back to her. This would be a nice sentiment if it were actually possible. He can't control things. He may not be able to always come back. I'm actually angry that Felicity and William are accepting this BS line from him. 

And that is the end of the episode. Pretty boring, eh? Yeah. The fact that Oliver didn't show up until the last ten minutes was a bad decision because Diaz and Laurel and their random mission could not hold my attention at all. I mean, what even is the Quadrant? Should we be worried about this? How come we've never heard of them? Are they really benefitting Diaz that much? 

Arrow disappointed me greatly, but The Flash did not, so I'm giving it the title of My Favourite Episode Of The Week. Supergirl wasn't bad, but The Flash was particularly good. Do you agree with this?