BATWOMAN - SEASON 1.20

REVIEW:  BATWOMAN - SEASON 1.20:  "Oh, Mouse!"

Gotham City is under siege, and the crazies are loose from Arkham!  Thanks to Alice, Mouse, and Hush, some of Gotham's nuttier residents are loose on the streets.  Meanwhile, the Crows are looking to contain them, as well as the Lady Crusader.  However, not only does Alice now possess the means in which to kill her sister, Batwoman now has to deal with the very threat of her own father killing her.  While in the background, there's an unknown villain waiting in the wings once all this gets resolved, who's all too eager to kill the bat, as well as Julia Pennyworth.  It's a powderkeg with a short fuse...so let's see how things will go BOOM!

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What did we learn from this season finale...as well as the season itself?  That the city is full of nutcases, we have a woman TRYING to fulfill the boots of her cousin, who abandoned his post as Gotham's savior for who knows why, her crazed sister, who's seeking revenge against her family for being abandoned for years, a younger half-sister looking to reconnect with her, and an old love whom she found out was married, only to question her love and who and what she is---and a man who has a vendetta against capes---especially Bat ones.  And little does her know that that cape he hates, its the daughter he loves.  

Batwoman's season finale gave us the set up for what is surely going to be an explosive end to this story arc when the next season rolls around...and THAT is going to be a LONG wait.  This show is going to be going through a MASSIVE change between now and next season, and we'll cover that shortly.  Right now, let's recap what we saw in the finale, and see where next season takes us:

This season finale featured one of the Arkham inmates, a man named Tony the Titan, because he was a massive college football player.  He had been put into Arkham because he got upset during a game, and killed a referee.  He escaped and carried two machetes with him, entered a train, and proceeded to slice up a man with white hair.  When Kate and Luke go to try and find him, they discover that he's bumping off people who had been supposedly responsible for his condition.  He next targeted his younger brother, who we see working out at the football stadium when Batwoman shows up to inquire about his brother.  Tony's brother recalled the referee incident, and said that he USED to be a nice guy before football destroyed him.  Titan shows up, and beats down Batwoman, and tosses her aside before he nails his brother with one of the machetes in his back, thus crippling his brother.  

Batwoman returns to the Cave, where Mary patches Kate up, and she feels she needs to get ahold of Tony again.  They discover through his records that he suffered from CTE, and the doctor, who turned out be the old guy he killed on the train, falsified his records so that he could continue to play, through his coach's orders.  Kate feels she needs to stop him, so she comes up with the idea of reaching out to her father---which Mary vehemently goes against, considering that he HATES Batwoman.  Mary offers a plan to go out and reach her father, and uses the Batsignal atop the GCPD to get his attention.  After nearly being arrested by her father's agents, she tries to reach out to Jacob, and tell him that the city NEEDS Batwoman, that she inspires hope.  Batwoman shows up, and offers a truce:  work together to stop Tony the Titan before he kills again.  

Meanwhile, in the Gotham sewers, Mouse and Alice are hiding out, while Alice is trying to dissect Lucius' journal, and trying to figure out where to get this interesting radioactive rock called Kryptonite.  Mouse isn't thrilled with Alice's obsession with destroying her family.  Mouse thought they had it good at Arkham, and now they're living like rats, and he had better aspirations for them...their own Wonderland.  Hush invades the scene, not happy with the face that Alice had for him.  So, she decides to go and get him a new face...but she's also got an alternative plan:  find the rock.  

She pays a visit to a college professor who specializes in geology, but he has no idea what she talks about at first...but then he understands what she means, and says that he can't get the Kryptonite for her, because someone else has it....Lucius Fox, and it's at Wayne Tower.  She's not thrilled, and ends up killing the geologist for not helping her.  

Batwoman and Jacob are at the stadium, where Tony's former coach said he would apologize to him for his mistakes.  The team is prepared to take him down should he go off and kill the coach.  Tony then starts picking off members of the Crows.  Back at the HQ, Sophie and Julia are talking about what has been going on with her, and Julia tells her about Saryfina, a very dangerous crimelord whom Julia worked with to get information, but she betrayed her, and now has a mark on her back.  Julia gets a folder, and it shows pictures of her and Sophie out and about---against Julia's wishes, she's gotten Sophie dragged into her mess.  They also find out that Jacob and Batwoman are at the stadium...and that unsettles Sophie, because she knows Jacob is going to take down Batwoman as well.  At the stadium, Tony is hacking his way to the coach, whom Batwoman lands down and sends off running, while she goes after Tony.  Tony easily handles her, and is about to kill her, when she reaches him, by saying that she knows what happened, and she knows he used to be a good person.  Tony relents on his attack, but is immediately shot by Jacob and the Crows.  Batwoman asks what he's doing, and then all the guns are pointed at her.  Jacob said that he said the next time he saw her, they were at war, and this is what war looks like.  

Jacob then has his team fire upon Batwoman, who's suit manages to protect her from the bullets, and she ends up using her cable to zip off and escape.  Sophie and Julia show up, and Sophie has it out with Jacob.  She's disappointed.  Kate returns to the Cave, heartbroken that she will never be able to tell her father who she really is.  Mary tried to warn her, and that no matter what, they have each other.  Luke, who'd been spending the episode trying to figure out how to destroy the piece of Kryptonite that his father had kept (and the one that Alice had been working for).  He eventually does it.  With it destroyed, Batwoman can continue to fight crime in Gotham.  However...Kate goes to a picture in her office, and shows them both yet another piece of Kryptonite...the one she took from Bruce Wayne on Earth 99, and held onto it for Supergirl.  They want her to destroy it immediately, but she says she has to talk to her Kryptonian friend first.  

We see Mouse and Alice again in the sewers, and he's had enough.  He tells Alice he's leaving.  He can't handle her vendetta anymore, and he's going to seek out their paradise.  She asks him how he thinks he'll survive out in the world, and he says he survived for five years in Arkham without her, without one visit from her.  He asks her to leave, but she says she can't.  He says it's time to let it all go.  She agrees, and they perform some kind of ritual to shed them of their troubles.  However, as it turns out, Alice poisoned Mouse.  She can't let him go...and he dies in her arms.  She says she HAS to go through with her revenge.

We later see her with Hush, and she finishes his face...and it turns out she has one more job for him:  to get into Wayne Tower to retrieve the Kryptonite.  As we see, she gave him the face of....BRUCE WAYNE!  This is how we end Season 1.

WELL...do we have A LOT of things to unload from this first season, and the MASSIVE change that's coming up.  

Kate and her father are destined to be on opposite sides.  No matter how much she wanted to tell her father who she is, and despite Mary's misgivings about that plan, Jacob will always hate ANY vigilante...especially any BAT vigilante.  The one thing that has nagged me about this show is how they made out Bruce Wayne and Batman to be.  Kate and Alice's story is a plausible one, but the fact that Batman's part in their story seems to make him out as careless.  For him to just use his bat cable to hold the car in place, while he went Joker chasing makes him look like a careless ass who disregarded the ONE thing he--as a hero--is supposed to do:  protect the innocent.  So, with him being gone, we get the real reason later on, when Luke tells Kate that Bruce killed the Joker.  Batman thus violated his ONE cardinal rule.  It's just not a good look for the Dark Knight Detective.  In the Arrowverse, Batman is a major dick, and it's terrible.  This is where the show gets the negative for me.  Now, had it been something ELSE that spurred the accident that killed Kate and Beth's mother, and separated them, I could be down with it...but because it involves Batman's carelessness...it just spits in the face of who Batman is.  If he had left because he killed the Joker and the job got to be too hard, I get it.  But this didn't sit too well.

Kate spent the season growing into her role as Batwoman...and she got A LITTLE better as the season went on, but still didn't come off as a true badass like she should be.  There were some parts of the season where she DOES come off badass in her fight scenes, but outside of that, she takes a TON of lumps.  Also---the fight choreographers could've staged better fight scenes...the ones on this show kind of fell flat.  For a gritty show like Batwoman, they should've had the Arrow team come over after THAT show wrapped, and work on this one.  It's something I hope they improve on next season.  Any bat character should instantly be an intense badass, and not a snowflake.  

The Bat "Team" took all season to assemble, but the pieces are there---somewhat.  Luke is obviously in the fold, and now so is Mary.  Julia is an outlier, and Sophie is on her side, but not really a 'team' member.  That should change in Season 2.  Jacob Kane is a long in the tooth security guy who has FAAR too much power for a security firm.  They are NOT the police, and if the GCPD is accepting of Batwoman, his ass better get on board.  I just can't see his character lasting much longer.  I feel that when Season 2 starts, Alice needs to kill him, and be done with it.  He's had his good moments, but his whole hatred of Bat people has gotten stale.  But I guess it's a way they keep drama between Kate and her father.  I feel at some point, Sophie is going to make a choice and quit the Crows to join Batwoman...even if it's some freelance muscle or something.  

Relationships:  the family dynamic in this show is dysfunctional as hell.  Kate's sister is a homicidal maniac---but I LIKE that part!  Alice is the best thing ON the show.  Rachel Skarsten has killed it all season with her performance.  You see Alice's highs and lows, and you're on that rollercoaster ride with her, as she screams out in bloodthirsty glee.  Kate's relationship with her has waned, but deep down, Alice still wants her sister.  But we'll see if her lust for revenge takes precedence---right now, it does.  Mary and Kate's relationship had some mending to do, and it got mended---especially when she finally put the pieces together, and found out she was Batwoman.  

Sophie and Kate's relationship was an up and down affair.  Sophie is the love of Kate's life, but she has to let her go because of 1.  Her marriage (which eventually fell apart), and 2.  Batwoman.  Sophie had Kate dead to rights, but Kate managed to weasel out of that pickle.  But now we have a true love triangle, where Kate still loves Sophie, but Sophie's found a new love interest in none other than Julia Pennyworth.  Julia's part on the show I felt was only going to be for an episode or two, but now she's firmly entrenched into Batwoman's war...especially now that she didn't get the diary for this new villain, Saryfin.  We'll find out about her later.  Safe to say, though...all the relationships on this show suffer from too much dysfunctionality, and needs to be straightened out.  I love a little drama, but let's not overload us with it.

Sad we only got some mentions of Batman's infamous roster of rogues.  Joker is dead, no sign of the Penguin or Riddler, no Poison Ivy.  They drop several easter eggs all season, but it appears we're not going to GET any of the heavy hitters for this show.  Hush  is the only real big villain of Batman's to be featured.  And the villains Kate faced were...okay to meh.  They need to give her a challenge outside of Alice.  

Two things to wrap up this first season blog:  As we saw at the end of the episode, we finally got to put a face to Bruce Wayne (and we know it's Hush as Bruce...we're not stupid), but for them to have an actual face for Bruce Wayne is HUGE.  Here's hoping we actually get a SMALL version of Bruce at SOME juncture.  The other...and this is MASSIVE NEWS;  While this show had it's rough patches throughout while trying to gain legs and an audience...it's going to have a NEW star to helm the title role in 2021 (when the CW expects to have their DC Universe shows to return), as star Ruby Rose is VACATING the role of Batwoman---which is a first for the DC CW shows.  I am curious about how they will handle all the flashbacks, and what will happen from here.  Many people were pissed off when she got cast, and now, the show COULD be treading water IF they don't find a replacement for her.  The search is currently on, and they DO intend to cast an LGBTQ acrtress in the role.  So this is going to change the dynamic QUITE a bit with a new gal taking over the lead role.  And what about flashbacks?  Do they recreate those with the new actress?  I'm wondering if this show will even GET to have a 2nd season...virus aside.  But we DO want to thank Ruby Rose for her contribution to the DC Universe, and wish her luck in her future endeavors.  

It's quite a bombshell, and it puts this show on official life support now.  Lots of hardcore DC fans have been disappointed by ALL the shows as of late, but Batwoman's been the one with the target on its back.  Lets hope that the show creators give us a satisfying end to the Alice story, as well as a new villain or villains to plague Batwoman next season.  I did enjoy the season overall, and I DO dig the batsuit.  The characters are EXTREMELY flawed and hypocritical at times, but they're a good cast.  Just now without Ruby Rose.  Alice was the best thing about this season, but she does need to go away for awhile once her arc is finished.  That way, we can miss her, and then be happily surprised when she returns...which shouldn't be for a couple of seasons.  The fight scenes need improvement, and cut back on the melodrama a little bit...I get these people need issues to deal with, but don't bury us in it.  

That's all I have for Season 1 of Batwoman.  I hope you guys enjoyed my reviews, and we'll be back here once again when we have production begin anew.  

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Okay kids...YOUR thoughts on Batwoman:  Season 1?  Subscribe and leave a comment below.  What ideas would YOU have to improve it, and your thoughts on WHO should don the cowl, now that Ruby Rose is gone?  

Until next time....the Signal is OFF!

SUPERGIRL - SEASON 5.19

REVIEW:  SUPERGIRL - SEASON 5.19:  "Immortal Kombat"

Here we are, once again, at the end of another season of The Girl of Steel.  It's been a rocky ride this season, with a LOT of changes, CRISIS, and dealing with a new reality, and TWO big threats:  Leviathan, which had been covertly working their plot to destroy humanity, and, of course, Lex Luthor.  Things have hit the proverbial fever pitch, and we see how the pieces start to fall into place for our Super Friends.

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This season finale, hitting at episode 19 because of the COVID-19 lockdown, gave us a good deal of material to ponder upon during what will be an extended break due to not only this virus, and the ability to actually go back and ramp up production again, but mainly because of Melissa Benoist's impending motherhood.  So, it's undetermined when exactly Season 6 will begin, but we will have plenty of time to speculate what happens from here.  The main thing we come away with is this:  The Super Friends got put to the test this season, and they fell apart in some ways, things changed for a couple of characters, and CRISIS threw a monkey wrench into EVERYTHING.  

Lex finally gets his meeting with Leviathan, and he at first has to endure a little pain, as their ship is radiation protected from humans, but he gets a little pin from Jemma to allow him aboard.  He, along with Jemma and Rama Khan, map out their plan to annihilate the human race, and begin anew with the world.  He thinks they need to take care of Supergirl together, but Rama says leave that to him, while Lex and Jemma go and get the Obsidian Platinum rollout going, ensuring that the population dives into the VR, making them easy pickings.  Before they depart, Jemma lets Lex know that he's one of them now...and his plan is working to perfection.  They know that the Super Friends will stop them, but Rama knows that they can track her movements.  Lex informs Brainy that things are going to plan, and Brainy wants to get in there to destroy Leviathan immediately, but Lex has other plans.  He says he'll let them kill Supergirl first, then THEY will take down Leviathan.  Brainy isn't digging this plan, and Lex warns him about interfering.  Brainy is at a crossroads, and he's got much to consider.

We FINALLY have that sit down with Kara and Lena.  This has been dragging through the whole season, and it has put these two former best friends at odds, all because Kara hid the fact that she was Supergirl from Lena, and Lena didn't take that well.  Hence her whole Non Nocere plan to make humans a bit more docile, but that backfired in her face, as it could never work, and Lex manipulated her the whole way.  Lena says she wants to help bring Lex down, and her and Kara finally have it out.  Kara also finally tells Lena the reason WHY she hid her secret ID:  to protect Lena herself.  Lena admits that when things go south, she's always quick to push everyone away.  She knows she can't get forgiveness, but she at least wants to help correct her mistake.  The team shows up, and Lena fills them in on the score. They realize that Supergirl can be tracked, and that Rama has Kryptonite.  Lena says she can build a new suit, and  they need to get Kara to her lab.  Meanwhile, J'Onn, M'Gann, Alex, and Dreamer will provide distraction, so that the duo can make their way to Lena's lab undetected.  

 

The team provides enough distraction for Lena to get started on the suit, but Dreamer has a dream about Brainy, and he seems like he's in trouble, but Dreamer can't place it.  She tries to ignore the dream, but in the heat of battle, she falters, and J'Onn saves her, only to take the hit himself, and get hurt.  The team retreats, and so does Rama and his lackeys, whom he's provided devices to shoot Kryptonite at Supergirl to kill her.  M'Gann talks to Nia about her dream of Brainy, and advises her to see what's going on, instead of pushing it out of her head.  She feels there's no time for that right now.  J'Onn recovers, and he knows that they need to buy Kara more time before the battlesuit is finished, so he telepathically sends a message to Rama, mocking him.  The team then goes and waits for Rama to return, and the battle begins again.  Kara has to sit on the sidelines while Kelly tracks down Eve Tessmacher, and she also informs Kara that William went missing.  Alex and Kelly had snuck into Obsidian to get ahold of Eve's info.  They manage to locate Eve, who was about to shoot William, and manges to wound him, but Supergirl can't sit behind anymore, and she saves William, and cauterizes his wound so he can get help.  She knocks out Eve, and they take her back to Lena's lab.  

Brainy is at the bar, talking to the female Brainiac about how he can't let his friends get hurt by Lex, and that he can't follow the plan anymore.  So, he tells her that he needs her help, and he shows her the bottle, in which he will shrink Leviathan in, and ensure they are no longer a threat.  She agrees to bet there with him.  He ends up sneaking into Leviathan, and puts his plan into action, knowing that the radiation inside their ship will kill him.

Supergirl is ready to join the fight as the finishing touches are put on her suit.  They go into battle, and she manages to stop them...temporarily once she gets her suit on.  However, she knows it's a standstill, and they bail, but not before Dreamer has yet another dream of Brainy.

Rama's failure to kill Supergirl infuriates Jemma, who wants to kill everyone now in VR since the launch, but Lex tells her to wait...they don't have enough people.  He tells her to send a reliable assassin to finish her off.  At this time, Supergirl has entered the VR to try and get everyone out, having realized Leviathan and Lex's full plan from Tess, whom Supergirl promises to keep her mother safe.  As Supergirl tries to reach out to those in the VR, Jemma sends Andrea to kill her, since her body is now helpless.  With Andrea activated, she uses her shadow powers to go and kill Supergirl, and fulfill her job, otherwise, her father will suffer.  She meets up with Lena, and holds Kryptonite to Lena's throat, as Lena tells her she's sorry for shutting her out, and for not being a good friend, but they can change that.  Lena gets through, as does Supergirl.  People disengage from the VR, and the plan begins to fall apart.  

Brainy is almost done with putting in the code, and ending Leviathan, but he's dying slowly.  The team is doing its best to hold off Rama, but then Brainy's plan works, and Rama and his sidekicks are sucked into the bottle.  That threat is gone.  However, Dreamer knows something is wrong with another dream, and she says that Brainy is in trouble.  

Supergirl comes out of the VR, succeeding in her mission.  Her and Lena now allies again, shake hands, and know that the battle isn't won---it's time to take Lex down.

In the wake of Rama and his cronies getting sucked into the bottle, Jemma looks like she shorts out, and falls onto the desk.  Lex realizes that Brainy must've succeeded, and goes and finds him aboard the Leviathan ship.  He takes the bottle, having anticipated that Brainy would help his friends.  He just has to go and kill Supergirl himself.  Lex's plan the whole time was to kill the Gods AND Supergirl, and take over the world himself.  No aliens or Gods ruling the planet...only a human.  He leaves Brainy to die, and uses a portal to head to his hideout, where Lillian is waiting.  Their plan to use it to destroy Supergirl and her friends to move forward.  At the end, we then see Jemma shed her human skin, and we see this robotic looking body underneath.  And that's where we end...

It was a fairly fast paced episode, and it covered a bit of ground, and resolved some issues, and gave us Lex's full plan--which wasn't too hard to figure out.  Lex has NEVER liked any super-beings, and feels the Earth should be ruled by man---mainly HIM.  This is Lex at his most megalomaniacal, and Lillian is right there, by his side.  Lex has stayed pretty much one step ahead of everyone, and we will wonder just when his ego will get the better of him, and he'll fall.   We HOPE that happens early in Season 6, so that we can focus on a NEW villain.  Who that is, we don't know.  And now with a crazed Jemma-bot, we have to look out for Leviathan still.  

The BIG issue this season has been resolved.  Kara and Lena finally got out how they felt, and expressed their issues in regards to Kara's secret ID.  It was a long overdue talk, and while there is STILL going to be some mending ahead for these two, they're at least on the same side again, and can move forward.  It was great that Lena protected Kara's ID when they rescued William from Eve.  Eve also got a happy ending of sorts, being reunited with her mom, as Supergirl had promised her.  What happens to Eve is unknown (I'm assuming SOME jail time for past crimes, but leniency might be on the board here), her character almost serves little to no purpose now, unless somehow sucked into Lex's orbit again....but she's a bit burned by him right now, so we'll see.

Alex debuted HER new supersuit, and seems to have complete control over the Martian wristband that J'Onn gave her.  I had actually thought she'd go full Guardian, but I can admit I was wrong.  The suit looks cool...just not too keen on the makeup on the face...but whatever.  Speaking of J'Onn and M'Gann---it's about damn time!!  We've been waiting for these two to hook up for the last couple of years, and now it's finally going to happen!  Considering the journey J'Onn has been on this year, this is a nice reward.  Not sure if M'Gann is going to stick around, but at least J'Onn has a love life..thank goodness!  Finally...Brainy and Nia.  We now finally understand why Brainy had been creeping into her dreams---they were premonitions of the future.  And as much as Brainy had done himself no favors by aligning with Lex, and shutting Nia and the team out, he still rose to the occasion when it came time.  Now, we can only hope that Nia and the team can arrive in time to save him.  Those two NEED to kiss and make-up.  Their relationship was cute.  But again, they got some road to hoe before all is right in the neighborhood.  

Overall, I enjoyed the season moreso than the previous one, and looking forward to what Season 6 brings.  It's going to seem like a long wait, but hopefully, the payoff will be amazing.  

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That puts a bow on this season of the Maid of Might.  I appreciate all of you sticking around for another go at these reviews.  I do hope you subscribe in the meantime, and leave some comments about what YOU thought of Season 5...what you HOPE for Season 6, and your predicitions.

Until next season...Up, Up, and AWAY!

DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW - SEASON 5.11

REVIEW:  DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW - SEASON 5.11:  "Freaks and Greeks"

After last week, we saw that Charlie failed in her endeavor to bring back Behrad or Astra's mother for that matter.  Also, we had the ship break down because of sabotage.  Gary, the doofus that he is, brought a dog on board saying that it was a comfort animal because of his stress from all the bad things going on (seriously, dude, if you can't stand the heat, STAY OUT of the kitchen!), which turned out to be a Hellhound in disguise, who had eventually put subliminal messages into several of the crew's heads, which led to them causing the breakdowns on the ship to begin with.  All of this went down while Mick had his daughter Lita aboard for a little Dad/Daughter time.  And we discovered that Sara has precognitive powers, but she's blind as well.  Well...all we can say is...NOW WHAT?

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We got back to a little bit of mirthful mayhem with the team this week, as they needed the Chalice of Dionysis in order to grant immortality to some of the crew to help Charlie use the Loom of Fate.  While Astra is getting irritated and impatient with the team, they discover that the Chalice is located at Hudson University, and it's called the Chug Cup.  Nate is familiar with the tradition, and the team has to go down to pledge to a sorority or fraternity in order to get to participate in the Chug Cup.  

The team arrives on the college campus, where Nate begins to fit right in, and the girls have a little bit more difficulty, especially since Astra has zero patience for this, and just wants to get the Chalice and leave, by force if needed.  They DO manage to bump into Dinoysis himself, whom Charlie recognizes, and they chit chat, and say they're looking to be a part of the Chug Cup.  While they're trying to negotiate a deal with him to get the Cup (as he's kept himself in human form as a college student), Mick is on the campus with Lita to not only find the Chalice, but to also see about her actually GOING to college.  They spend the episode, for the most part, trying to see if she'll fit in to this, what appears to be, a very upper class institution.  At the end of the episode, we see that Mick had taken off and left her with Nate, because he felt that she might be ashamed of him, and she thought the he felt the same of her.  With each other being wrong about that, Lita actually thought she had a great dad/daughter weekend.

The girls go to pledge a sorority, and it doesn't go well, as Astra and Charlie immediately start in on each other, calling each other hypocrites and eventually break the pledge board for the sorority, causing the head of said sorority to kick them...and the other outcast gals at the table, out of the house.  Back aboard the ship, the two still bicker until Sara has to break them up.  Zari comes up with the idea to start their own sorority, and put together a recruitment video to get approved by the college...and invite the outcast gals at their table to join.  Meanwhile, Nate has ingratiated himself into Dino's frat, and is using his old frat skills to get an in with him, while Lita, whom Mick passed off onto Nate to keep an eye on, as he took off, went looking for the Chalice.  She manages to find it, and reports back to Nate.  Nate, however, ends up getting put under the spell of Dino with a drink, and Nate blows their cover about WHY they need the Chalice. Dino says that he's disqualified the girl's fraternity from participating in the Chug Cup, because if they use the Chalice for the Loom, Dino fears that the free will that Charlie had created will be gone.  This frustrates Astra to no end, and takes off...determined to get the Chalice HER way.

Charlie finds Astra ready to set the fraternity house on fire, and manages to talk her down, and says that there's a purpose with the team.  She still rebellious, but it's nice to know that she's got people watching her back.  Charlie realizes that the one way they can get the Chalice is to take away Dion's followers...which is what helps give him his powers.  They need to throw a bigger party.  However, when they get set up for said party....no one shows.  It seems like defeat is for certain, until they realize they have to do something really rebellious.  Astra has an idea.  

They go and commit sabotage themselves to Dino's party by hacking his DJ system, and trapping him inside a shed where he's got several kegs, which Mick sets on fire, and they explode.  All the gals reconvene at the sorority house (which is actually John's house they've been using for cover), ready to party....but no one still shows up.  Dino, Nate, and the rest of the frat show up, and Dino is ready to give them the heave ho, until Sara challenges Dino to a game of beer pong.  The game gets pretty competitive, but in the end, Sara wins out.  Dino loses his followers, including Nate, and he's defeated.  The team then gets use of the Chalice and all decide to become immortal for the 24 hour period in order to use the Loom to get Astra's mother and Behrad back.  The only one that didn't partake was Zari.  With that done, the gals on the team decide to break up the sorority, but the girls they recruited decided to stick together, and found a new house on the pledge row.  Astra is thanked by one of the girls for helping her open up and fit in, and it means something to Astra as she feels like a part of a team for once.

As Astra sees the young lady off, she is approached by Khalesis, who isn't going to easily forget her betrayal.  Astra rebuffs her, but she said she gave her the power to destroy Constantine, and she's calling in her marker.  This is now going to put Astra in a BAD position.

This was a fun episode, and it was definitely more lighthearted than the last two.  This was the Legends' version of "Animal House", and did have some really funny moments.  Nate totally immersing himself back into his frat roots was humorous to see, and Ava once again having to play something of the geek of the group (which, she is), and Sara just exuding cool throughout the whole thing, despite being blind (and to think...Dionysis actually thought he could beat SARA at beer pong?  Silly God!).  We had Astra and Charlie bicker through most of the whole episode, calling each other out for not only blowing their cover, but allowing their egos to get in the way.  In the end, though, Astra realized that these gals (and the team, for that matter), had her back.  Now will be the hard part for Astra:  she's going to have to betray the team, or suffer the consequences of Khalesis' wrath.  The entire episode did allow for the team to bond more, give us some laughs, and kept the story moving.  It felt fast paced, and was cool to see these characters out of their element (unless you're Nate, Sara, and Zari, who seem to adapt to these scenarios).  

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That does it for this week, gang!  Subscribe, leavea comment, and pass along this blog to someone else!

Until then....Time Is On Our Side!

THE FLASH - SEASON 6.19

REVIEW:  THE FLASH - SEASON 6.19:  "Success Is Assured"

Well, like it or not, kids...we're at the END of Season 6 of The Flash.  Admittedly, it's cut short due to the Virus issue, and it halted production, and thus forced the show runners to cut this season short by a couple of episodes.  That aside, we jump into a situation where Eva McCulloch is loose from the Mirrorverse, ready to take revenge on her ex-husband Carver, Iris and Kamilla are trapped in the Mirrorverse, looking to find Chief David Sing, Caitlin/Frost are having some health issues after their attack on Dr. Light...and Barry's speed is pretty much almost gone.  And with the new Mirror Master on the loose...Team Flash is up against the wall...

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We pick up this week's installment with Eva McCulloch plotting her revenge against Carver, by having the Fake Singh helping her out with her master plan.  Thing about Eva is...while she's back in the real world, she has to sleep and rest in this containment unit , to keep her from here in the real world.  I feel that will be a plot point down the road when we pick up things next season.  She's now got a suit that will help keep her stable, and the Fake Singh says he's ready to serve Mother.  

We take a peek in with Caitlin and Frost this week, as they're heading to the Arctic, where their Mom's lab is, to see if their mother can resolve her issues with her powers and her body.  Barry, Nash, and Allegra are ready to see her off, and Nash says they're going to miss her.  Frost is still nervous about really spending time with Carla, and is apprehensive about talking to her, but Nash reassures her that she'll be fine.  Barry assures Caitlin later on that she will be fine, and Caitlin also tells Barry that she'll be back to help him get Iris once she gets her situation settled.  Carla does arrive, and she starts to conduct tests on Frost.  Carla struggles and wishes she had Caitlin's mind, but Frost says she can try to help.  Frost admits that she feels less, and Carla lets her know she's not.  It puts Frost's mind at ease.  Barry later tells Caitlin as they leave that he needs them BOTH back, and Carla promises Barry that she will take care of them both, and get them both home soon.  

In the Mirrorverse, Iris is still suffering from the neurological dissonance that effected Eva, and she's trying to figure out a way to find Singh with Kamilla, but everything is backwards, and it's a strain to find a way to see anything.  However, she's starting to adapt, and she's beginning a search for Singh.  

Barry is having the team meet in his lab, because he's still got to be the CSI of the CCPD, as well as coordinate Team Flash in finding a way to stop Eva before she kills Carver.  They know Carver runs the Black Hole gang, and Ralph gives them the diamond that Sue pilfered from one of the banks Carver owns, and with Allegra's help, she uses her powers (since the diamond is radiating with UV energy), manage to pinpoint where Carver has his stash of weapons are.  Flash and Elongated Man go to this warehouse, and while scoping it out, Ralph manages to find the file case on the Dearbons.  Ralph's got evidence of Carver's blackmail on them, but before they can take off, Fake Singh appears, and he's tossing gasoline all over the place.  Flash tries to reason with him, but Singh says he's doing what he needs to for the Mother...and sets the place ablaze.  Flash and Elongated Man escape, but just barely.  The files on Sue's parents are gone, as well as the weapons Carver had stashed.

Barry ends up going to meet with Carver, and letting him know that he knew about the warehouse, and Carver, of course, plays it off.  Barry tells him that Eva is loose, but Carver doesn't buy it.  He tells Barry about the neurological dissonance that Iris is probably suffering from, and it's likely that Iris won't be the same if he DOES get her back.  While he goads Barry, Dr. Light, Sunshine, and Ultraviolet are prepping for Eva's eventual attack.  She gets the drop on them, as she draws them into the Mirrorverse.  Carver later arrives at home, and his security detail isn't there.  Eva then appears in the mirror to let him know she's coming after him.  He then shows up at the CCPD, and asks for protection, in exchange for getting Joe back.  Barry does offer protection, and Carver says that he's got a panic room at McCulloch Industries, and they can use an ion forcefield to protect them from Eva's attack.

While the team prepares to protect Carver, Ralph has prepared to talk to the Dearbons about their situation, and out of nowhere, Sue shows up, putting on an act for her parent's sake.  She and Ralph talk, and he says that he found their file, but it got scorched in the fire. Sue says that Ralph's done, and that she's going home.  Ralph isn't so sure.

The team is at McCulloch, ready to protect Carver from Eva, while Barry goes to the panic room with Carver to set up the forcefield.  Eva has Sunshine, Dr. Light, and Ultraviolet attack, since she told them the truth about Carver, and the forcefield goes out.  Barry goes to fix it, and the team is caught in the lobby, having earlier evacuated the building of its employees, and have to deal with the onslaught of the powerful trio.  Sue had arrived, with plans to kill Carver for what he did to her family, and Ralph tried to stop her, but she bails.  Nash gives Allegra a piece of Eternium, and she uses it against her sister, to make her live her worst nightmare.  With the team back against the wall, Sue returns, and she helps try to defend Barry and Carver.

The team is surrounded, as Eva eventually breaks through, and finds Carver.  She plans on killing him by using the shards of the mirror she broke to kill him, but as she moves the shards of glass to kill him, Flash shows up and takes the hit.  Eva wonders why he would protect him, and Flash says that he deserves to go to jail, but she pushes one of the shards in Flash through him, and hit Carver.  She confesses that he was there the night the particle accelerator thrust her into the mirror.  Carver says his wife died a long time ago.  He took her ideas and used them as weapons to make a profit.  Carver dies, and Eva takes the shards out of Barry, but he's wounded.  She also calls off the power trio, and they all bail.  Eva tells Flash and his team to leave...she's taking her company back and they're trespassing.

Having to take the L, the team goes back to Barry's lab in order to plot their next move with Eva...especially after her press conference where she talks about her being gone, Carver's death, and her working with the police to solve his murder.  Everyone's set to go to work, when Cecile walks in with Joe.  Barry says it's time to go to work.

Later on, we see another Ralph and Sue moment, and Sue feels her family is free, and she can go home.  However, Ralph says she can't, because the paper has accused her for killing Carver.  Yet another trap laid for Team Flash and Sue.  

The episode ends back in the Mirrorverse, as Iris is desperately tring to adjust to the environment to read and locate Singh.  They find him in the hospital of the Mirrorverse, and she and Kamilla are about ready to go after him, when she feels extreme pain, and Kamilla watches in horror as Iris disappears.  To be continued...

There was a LOT of movement in this episode, a few surprise twists, but the episode as a whole...especially the cliffhanger...left me a tad flat.  It just came off a tad lackluster for me, and fairly rushed.  Now, I get part of that is due to production constraints, but if this was the show in the can that they filmed, and didn't alter it, knowing that they had 3 or so more episodes to tie up the story, it just leaves us on a down note.  Not that it's TERRIBLE, and it gives you wonder as to when Barry will get his powers back, whether or not Caitlin's issues will be resolved, and will they get Iris, Singh, and Kamilla back.  It's not often we have seen a season of these shows, where the heroes are taking a massive defeat, and things look bleak at the end of the season.  But that is where we are at.

Eva twisting the narrative and putting the blame on Sue Dearbon for Carver's murder...knowing that was Sue's intention, makes her a fugitive, and I wonder if she'll go on the run, or be stuck in jail until Ralph can clear her name.  At least we finally got Sue this season, and her chemistry with Ralph is off the charts.  They have a very His Girl Friday rapport with each other, and it's marvelous.

Eva has come full circle as a powerful Mirror Master and villain.  And now, with control of Black Hole's operations, and with Sunshine, Dr. Light, and Ultraviolet on her side, she's become exceptionally dangerous, and there isn't much Team Flash can do to stop her, because--let's face it--Ralph's powers aren't enough to stop her.  Barry is powerless, and we're no closer to him getting them back than we were a few weeks ago.  Next to NO progress has been made on that front.  And I just hope that whatever they had planned for the last two to three episodes that had NOT shot and had planned for the rest of the season, will tie up the arc, and that they can move onto the NEXT villain to cause trouble in Central City.  I do NOT want Eva's story to drag well into the next season...this arc has gone on long enough, and we've reached the point where it needs to start being resolved.  

Iris disappearing leaves another mystery.  Did she get Eva's powers?  Did she get erased from existence?  We don't know, but Carver did warn Barry that Iris' long term stay in the Mirrorverse will screw with her head, as well as physically.  So, have no idea what is going to happen to Iris.  What I DO know is that Candice Patton killed it this season.  She took the role of Iris, and rolled the wave that they put her on wonderfully.  Playing not only the real Iris, but her mirror version was done really damn well.  

Caitlin/Frost.  I know they had to work around Danielle Panabaker's pregnancy, but this is an interesting arc to begin for them.  Will we get an integration of the two, or will they remain two personalities?  And will they return back in time to help the team take down Eva?  I'm all for character development, and I'm curious to see the relationship between Frost and her mother grow...hopefully with a little help from Caitlin.  

Overall, it was a good season....it just sucks it was cut short, and we were left with what we got.  I just hope for a quick resolution to this Mirror Master story once the show is able to go back into production.  And I wonder whether or not we can sneak in a guest appearance from one of Flash's Justice League buddies (yeah, I'm calling them the Justice League.  Lobbying for that hardcore---it's TIME, dammit!).  Anyway, that wraps up Season 6....now, we wait for Season 7.  When production will begin for THAT...we have no idea.  The world has to get back to normal first.

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That does it for this season, boys and girls!  But don't worry...when Season 7 can arrive, we'll be here for it!  So, until then, continue to subscribe to the page--we'll still have content to publish.  Plus...leave a comment!  What did YOU think of this season of The Flash?  Lemme know!

Until next season....Keep On Running!

SUPERGIRL - SEASON 5.18

REVIEW:  SUPERGIRL - SEASON 5.18:  "The Missing Link"

Welcome back to our next to final installment of the Girl of Steel for Season 5.  It's been an interesting season for Kara Zor-El, as she navigated a new threat in Leviathan, and also dealt with Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the fallout from that, having to come to terms with a new Earth, as Earth 38 was destroyed, and now having to deal with this new reality---one where Lex Luthor is seen as the good guy.  She also has had to endure the loss of her friendship with Lex's sister Lena, whom felt betrayed by Kara for not trusting her with her secret ID.  Lena has been fueled by betrayal and lies that she decided that she needed to stop the human race from committing crime and corruption, by manipulating people's minds, and taking away free thought in order to make humanity more docile.  Meanwhile, Lex has pulled his strings in order to take over this Earth, and he's using Leviathan has his strong arm to stop Supergirl and the Super Friends from dashing his master plan.  What's in store for our Maid of Might?  Let's see, shall we?

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Boy...Kara can't catch a break, can she?  What can we say about what we just witnessed this week?  Things are going to hell in a handbasket, and the Super Friends are up against the wall.  Rama Khan reappeared, and attacked the DEO, causing it to collapse.Lex's full plan was revealed, and Lena finally caught on.  On top of that, Kelly and William faced termination for trying to expose Eve Tessmacher to Andrea, and Alex and Kelly's friend Pete run afoul of Leviathan.  

One of the things we find out this episode is that the Non Nocere program that Lena has been spending the better part of the season developing to re-program the human mind to wipe out all violent and other tendencies that promote bad behavior is not working like she had hoped.  Her main guinea pig at the prison, Steve, has started some sort of meditating yoga type class, but once the class is over, and he and a couple of other prisoners are in an elevator, one starts freaking out, becomes claustrophobic, and attacks the other prisoner.  The violent tendencies her and Lex discover is the human mind adapting to the treatment.  It all goes bad as the other prisoners begin to adapt to the violent behavior, and put Steve, Lena, and Lex in danger.  The prison breaks out into a full riot, and they give chase to the trio, as they try to head to Lena's lab in the prison to see if they can manipulate the Q-Waves to get the rioters docile again.  Lex provides cover after rescuing Steve from a beating.  Lena manages to get them under control, but further tests prove that the program is a bust.  Something Lex had already known. 

 Lex once again used pawns in order to get Lena to his side, and he states that he wanted her to find out on her own...so he gave her a helping hand in that department.  He wanted to show her that it takes a firm hand to control humanity.  And HE is that firm hand.  Lena finally realized that she got played, and calls him a monster.  Lex lashes out at her, but Lena won't back down from him.  But she feels the guilt of what she did, and relizes now that Kara was right about her becoming the villain.  She also realizes that Lex is in bed with Leviathan, and has given them the push they need to wipe humanity off the planet.

We also see how Lex had played Brainy this whole time, and tells Brainy to NOT get involved in any attack that Leviathan takes upon the Super Friends, and tells him to also "trust the process".  Lex STILL has his plan in play:  to play Leviathan AND the Super Friends off each other...let them wipe each other out, and then HE looks the hero, and can rule from on high, with unlimited power.  He tells Jemma that he has a gift for her, and in return, he gets a meeting with her friends.  She says that if this gift is legit, he gets what he wants.  She then sicks Rama Khan upon the Super Friends, causing an earthquake in Oregon, and ends up getting captured by Supergirl and Dreamer.  Brainy, torn by his loyalty to his friends, and to Lex, whom his alternate versions told him that he needed to do to save the world, takes over the cleanup, and takes Rama into custody to interrogate him.  This plays into the dream Dreamer has that shows a green skinned Briany playing cards that have Rama's face on it.  It then comes to light that Rama only allowed himself to be captured in order to get the "gift" that Lex had given them:  Kryptonite.  In the process of a new battle, Supergirl is weakened, and the rest of the Super Friends are hurt, but Rama takes off with his prize, and causes the destruction of the DEO.  In the aftermath, Brainy wants to know if they're okay, and Dreamer calls him out onto the carpet:  reveal what Lex is up to and help them, or be considered the enemy.  He says he can't, and she flat out tells him that if he can't choose a side, they'll choose it for him.

On the investigative front, Kelly refers Alex and Kara to her friend Pete (whom we saw earlier in the season, but it was really Malefic in disguise), and he's good at deciphering symbols at the library.  They go to see if he can get information about Leviathan, and while Kara takes off to deal with the Rama Khan threat, Alex and Pete dig into the ivestigation, but hit a wall.  They press on, and discover that when Pete asked about Leviathan, and wanted to get access into a room that would allow him to gain access to such information, he's rebuffed.  When he and Alex try to sneak into the room, they're almost assassinated for their troubles.  They get away, but they lost their chance to uncover the truth about Leviathan.  Pete, who'd been in the military before, understands Alex's current feelings about being lost, and still playing the role of the soldier.  It's hard to take the uniform off, and ditch the mentality when you no longer are what you used to be.  It's something Alex has struggled with the 2nd half of this season...finding her identity now that the DEO is gone...something she cannot go back to.  

Kelly and William's investigation into an empolyee with the ID number 387 hit a snag once they find out that it's Eve Tessmacher, who was hired by Jemma.  Eve's record had been wiped clean,but they went to Andrea, who'd been pursuing her own agenda to get Obsidian off the ground and running, and Kelly warned her that the patch wasn't fixed, and Andrea said she herself said to have it fixed, and was informed as such.  When they tried to tell her about Eve, Andrea said there's no proof, and that if they came to her again, they'd be fired.  They strike out, and report their situations to Kara and J'Onn.  Alex relates her issues to Kelly, and Kelly tells of her and William striking out to Alex.  They both agree that they need to be better at hiding their covert operations.  Kelly said maybe it's time for Alex to hide...and if she's going to be a vigilante, do it right.  

It appears the M'Gann is going to be around for a little while, as she helped the Super Friends tremendously this episode, especially in rescuing Supergirl from her Kryptonite fate.  Dreamer has really stepped it up lately, and now, if what Kelly's influencing is showing...we COULD see Alex take over the Guardian role left by James.  It seems to be the route we're going.  But before we discuss that further, we should also note that Lex gets a call from Jemma, and he's got his date with the rest of the group, for which he relays the message to Brainy.  Brainy isn't thrilled with how Lex has handled everything, and again, Lex tells him to trust the process.  Of course, Lex has every intention of killing Supergirl and her friends, and eventually, Brainy will be expendable as well.  

William hasn't given up on finding Eve, and manages to actually spot her.  She's trying to keep a low profile, but William picks up her tail, and eventually follows her down an alleyway.  Eve is onto him, and he loses her, but not before she captures him by having a black hood cover his face.  William is now in the hands of Leviathan, for which Tess still works for, much to her chagrin.  Also, Supergirl is still determined to find Rama Khan, and won't rest until they put Leviathan down, but she's getting frustrated.  

We see the episode end with Lena going to see Kara, and confessing to her that she was right...that in her arrogance to help mankind, she became the very thing Kara said she would:  a villain.  She tearfully tells Kara that she's sorry, and that she knows that Lex and Leviathan are working together, and while she isn't asking for forgiveness, she DOES want to help take her brother and Leviathan down.  Kara, who had been listening quietly and sternly to Lena's speech...pulls out a chair, and tells her to sit down, where Lena begins to fill Kara in on the details.  

Again, with production halted, and the full slate of the season having to be cut short, it looks like the writers did SOME maneuvering to give us something close to a really good cliffhanger...the pieces ARE in place for the season finale next week.  We were told at the beginning of this season this would be a fight for Lena's soul...it turns out it's a fight that only Lena could've battled...and she won.  But the cost appears to be heavy, as now Lex will use Obsidian, the Kryptonite from Leviathan, and her work with Non Nocere to take over the world.  Kara and Lena have A LOT of baggage to unload before ANY semblance of a friendship can be rekindled...but the first step was taken tonight.

It appears that from what Kelly's speech to Alex told us:  Alex will become the new Guardian.  That's cool, because it still puts Alex in the thick of the action, and she'll be able to still feel needed and have a purpose.  We also got to have J'Onn and M'Gann FINALLY get closer after all this time.  THAT was long overdue!  The one on the outside, apparently, is Brainy, whose loyalty has been torn in half for the 2nd half of this season, and Nia finally drew the line in the sand for him.  He's on the outside looking in, knowing Leviathan needs to be put down, but he's had to work with Lex, whom he KNOWS is playing him, and looking for his own power grab, but can't tell his friends.  It's tearing him apart, but he won't just share.  So, it's torture for him because it's costing him his friends...and moreso, Nia.  

It will be interesting to see how Leviathan uses William as a bargaining chip, and where Eve will fit into all of this.  Will she betray Leviathan to help the Super Friends, seeing as how she didn't want to work with them to begin with, but how she also got burned by Lex.  So, Eve is the outlier here to keep an eye on.  She can possibly tip the scales into th Super Friends' favor if she switches sides.  But that's speculation for another day.  

This was a good episode, with lots of moving parts, and some action scenes (not too extraneous...especially on Melissa Benoist's part, due to her pregnancy), but we got the story kicking into it's zenith, and we'll see what kind of a cliffhanger we get next week.

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That does it here for now.  One to go for Season 5, then we break for what appears to be an extended period.  Not sure when the show will be back, due to not only this Covid-19 Virus, but Melissa Benoist's pregnancy.  

But nonetheless, if ya like this place, please subscribe, leave a comment, and lemme know what YOU think about this season.

Until next time....Up, Up and AWAY!