DC TV Roundup: Green Arrow Slowly Gets His Groove Back, Legends Lose Grip On Reality

While Marvel and DC battle to see who wins at the box office, it’s virtually inarguable that it's the latter who dominates the small screen. Now having taken over four nights of the week when it comes to prime time programming, serialized superhero storytelling has swiftly become a cornerstone in the lives of many a geek these days. And who could blame any of us? Twenty-some episodes afford more character development and make room for introductions of heroes and villains that you would never be able to see in a two-hour movie. Multiply those possibilities due to a handful of these shows now existing and we’re being treated to a Golden Age of Superhero TV that we hope doesn’t end any time soon. Given that, we've established this column with the intent to recap the most memorable moments in DC TV each week, analyzing all the unforgettable developments to occur on Gotham, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, provided a new episode airs. Check it all out on the next page and be sure to comment down below letting us know what your favorite moment was this week from DC's TV universe. 4) Thanks For Nothing There’s a bit of television lingo I learned a long time ago, and it’s called “the art of the stall.” Basically, it refers to prolonging a major plot thread for as long as you can, although it’s preferable that you have small payoffs here and there in the meanwhile. Well, that’s pretty much what The Flash did this week, but in somewhat maddening fashion. You see, the producers have been getting as much mileage out of this “who is Savitar?” business as they can, stretching it out longer than they did with the Reverse-Flash and Zoom. While I understand their reasons for doing such, I’m not so hot on the idea of dangling the juicy carrot Abra Kadabra provided, only to not deliver before the show goes on hiatus for a month. Sure, this’ll probably be much easier to digest when eventually binge watching on Blu-ray, but for now, we were left with what came across as little more than a filler episode. On the plus side, I have to hand it to all involved for managing to adapt Abra Kadabra to live action without making him campy, because that was no small feat. To be honest, there was payoff in the closing minutes, only it consisted of Caitlin Snow appearing to finally, definitively become Killer Frost. Technically, that’s something we’ve all waited to see longer than the Savitar reveal, but it felt in no way germane to the narrative at hand. If this were a video game, I’d be throwing a controller right about now. 3) Uncle Mon-El’s Family Feedbag On the latest episode of Supergirl, director Kevin Smith taught us that dysfunctional families aren’t exclusive to this solar system. In what may have very well been a nod to Coming to America, Mon-El’s parents – Lar Gand and Rhea – not only disapprove of his new job as a “mixologist,” but they also put a price on Kara’s head in hope that her death would lead to him rebuilding Daxam with them. Okay, so only the former could possibly tie into the classic comedy starring Eddie Murphy, but you get the idea. Although the show was firing on all cylinders this week, I’m going to use this time to compliment Teri Hatcher, because seeing her play such a convincing and ruthless villain after being etched into my mind as Lois Lane during my childhood was nothing short of brilliant. Furthermore, knowing that she was willing to kill her husband because his vision conflicts with hers further cements her as someone that Supergirl – or the planet Earth, for that matter – shouldn't trifle with. 2) Be The Giver Or The Undertaker To be honest, there was a moment that I thought the producers were about to push Oliver Queen into Greg House territory and make him unlikable, but luckily, they quickly dug him out of that hole. If you think me a fool to even entertain such an idea, then may I refer you to the bizarre narrative choices made during the, um, masterwork that was season 4? Long story short, Oliver has found himself broken after what Prometheus/Adrian Chase did to him last week, making him desperate enough to reach out to the Bratva and doubting enough to pull the plug on Team Arrow. And although he went to some morally grey areas, he thankfully had Diggle there to be the voice of reason as usual. After hearing some encouraging words from his teammates, Oliver was willing to get back into the field, but it seems like he feels he needs to earn the right to put the Green Arrow costume back on. His heroics that followed effectively severed his ties with Bratva, but at the end of the day, he and his cohorts were able to publicly expose Adrian Chase as Prometheus, making the five episodes that’ll follow the month-long hiatus ahead of us feel like a new ballgame. See, this was an ending that left a better taste in my mouth than what The Flash had to offer. Yes, an agonizing wait lies before us, but I in no way felt shortchanged by what I saw. 1) Everybody Hates Eobard I have to hand it to DC’s Legends of Tomorrow for upping their game and topping this list for yet another week. Not only did “Doomworld” display some of the show’s stronger traits, but it was also a real treat for those who enjoy Elseworlds comics. By that, I mean it was very entertaining to see the Legion of Doom craft a new reality thanks to the Spear of Destiny: Damien Darhk is mayor of Star City; Eobard Thawne runs S.T.A.R. Labs; Malcolm Merlyn has a happy family; and some of the Legends have been reprogrammed and actually work for those guys, while a few others have taken to some very bad wigs. Aside from Thawne destroying the Spear and causing the Waverider crew to break a cardinal rule in next week’s finale, a major talking point we need to address is that of the death of Vixen. Although she may not end up being a series regular for season 3, I hope that her demise is undone soon enough because making this permanent means her granddaughter, Arrow’s Vixen, would never have come into existence. And with an animated movie based on that specific interpretation of the character being released in May, this would be a baffling creative decision to say the least.