DC TV Roundup: A New Black Canary Debuts, Jerome Steals The Show

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. 5) The Brave And The Bold And The Beautiful If anything, this week’s episode of Supergirl had no shortage of drama to complement the action. In the appropriately titled “We Can Be Heroes,” not only did James Olsen stand his ground in wanting to continue on as the Guardian, but Mon-El finally got off the bench. That’s right, after months of buildup, the fish out of water Daxamite got his hands dirty as he assisted Kara in taking down a small group that had siphoned the powers of Livewire, which even led to the Maiden of Might showing what true heroism is when she saved the life of a sworn enemy. Aside from that, interpersonal relationships continue heating up between the likes of Kara and Mon-El as well as Alex and Maggie. Somehow, I feel this series lends itself to showing the tender side of peoples’ lives better than most superhero shows on The CW, but let’s hope it doesn’t cross the line and turn into Smallville season 6, which will be remembered as the year of love triangles. 4) It’s Just Your Good Vibration That Cisco just can’t help but fall for the bad girls, huh? In a change of pace, Barry Allen kind of took a backseat to his buddy in this week’s episode of The Flash. But let’s be honest, having Mr. Ramon don the Vibe costume is long overdue. I guess the right push was needed and that happened to be defending the life of H.R. Wells from inter-dimensional cop(?) Gypsy. But what was perhaps most memorable about their battle was their hopping between various Earths, starting with Earth-1 (obviously) before eventually moving on to Earth-2, Earth-38 (home of Supergirl) and some volcanic ridden Earth that may have already endured an Apocalypse of its own – or maybe even an Apokolips, if you know what I mean. Although Gypsy is incredibly cool in her own right, seeing her use her powers is like getting a teaser of Cisco’s full potential. Now that they’ve made up and have developed a flirtation, here’s to hoping she returns before long. 3) Jumpin’ Black Flash Being someone who’s historically critical of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, even I can’t deny how awesome this week’s episode was. Titled “Legion of Doom,” it obviously placed much of the focus on Eobard Thawne, Malcolm Merlyn and Damien Darhk. In addition to finally showing how the band got together, the caper involving this trio made the show exponentially more interesting and yielded one of the series’ finest episodes to date. In fact, I would go as far to say the bad guys didn’t get enough screen time. Seriously, I wanted more. What perhaps came as the biggest surprise was gaining more insight into the Reverse Flash’s motivation, which led to learning how Black Flash is relentlessly pursuing him. Yes, we knew the former Zoom was showing up at some point, but his unannounced appearance likely excited many viewers. I can’t help but think he’ll play a crucial role in the season finale. 2) Someone’s In The Kitchen With Dinah Many will likely agree in saying that this season of Arrow has been firing on all cylinders for the most part, myself included. In fact, this may be the DC show I’m enjoying most right now and I’m hoping the producers don’t derail the train because, as the last two seasons evidenced, they make bizarre narrative choices and generally don’t do too well once getting over the midseason hump. Needless to say, I’m really rooting for them because I have a great attachment to this show. After being left baffled by the decision to not make Earth-2 Laurel the new Black Canary last week, we were introduced to Tina Boland, a metahuman former detective with a Canary Cry of her own. Viewers were left no choice but to approach this development with cautious optimism and see how it played out. Thankfully, it was revealed near the end of “Second Chances” that Tina Boland was just a cover name and her true identity is, in fact, Dinah Drake, who comic book readers may remember as the Golden Age Black Canary’s secret identity. So far, it looks like she'll be a good fit and is showing up as soon as next week’s episode. If my gut is right, she'll be confirmed as a series regular for season 6. 1) The Killing Joke: Junior Edition As if there were any doubt, Cameron Monaghan once again stole the show by outdoing his previous performances as Jerome Valeksa during the winter finale of Gotham. After plunging the city into darkness, Jerome kidnaps the young Bruce Wayne and absconds with him to a twisted amusement park that has been warped to the proto-Joker’s liking (human whack-a-mole, anyone?). And although both gentlemen are still young in age (more so David Mazouz), the Batman-Joker dynamic was pulled off rather well, with Bruce implementing his no kill vow as he begins to mature into the Dark Knight persona. Much to my delight, Jerome wasn’t killed off (again) even though he was originally slated to bite the dust. Keeping such a great talent around is a wise move and it was great to see the producers incorporate elements from Batman: Death of the Family, such as when his skin mask slid around each time he took a punch. Upon hearing that Valeska’s face has been surgically reattached and he’s been moved back to Arkham Asylum, one can’t help but wonder what he'll look like in his next appearance.