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Flash
When last we left off at the end of season 4, the mysterious young lady that’s been stalking Team Flash all season has revealed herself. She is Nora Allen, Barry, Grant Guston, and Iris’s, Candice Patton, daughter from the future. She crashed the Team Flash party and dropped the identity bomb at the end of last season and that’s exactly where we pick up this season.
Nora West-Allen, XS, played by Jessica Parker Kennedy, tells Team Flash that she is stuck in this time period. Team Flash decides to help Nora get back to her own time so she doesn’t disrupt the present which is her past. However, it’s all a lie. Iris notices how Nora avoids her and wants to spend all her time with Barry. Nora does have the power to get back she just wants to spend time with her father Barry. Nora reveals that in her time the Flash disappears while she is a baby and the only way she knows her father is through The Flash Museum. Nora says she wants to learn how to be a hero from the best, her father.
Nora comes with a lot of new mysteries and old fanboy Easter eggs. Mentions of the Legion which leave us wondering is it another Legion or the same as the Supergirl Legion. The Flash ring with was invented by Ryan Choi who is Ray Palmer’s future replacement as the Atom. Apparently, Gorilla Grodd fights Killer Shark. It’s not all just about Nora even though her name is the title of the episode. Caitlin, Danielle Panabaker, is still dealing with issues not being able to turn into Killer Frost. Ralph, Harley Sawyer, goes into detective mode and finds leads to Caitlin’s background to help her out. Cisco, Carlos Valdes is still heartbroken over his break up with Gypsy.
Joe, Jesse L Martin, and Cecile, Danielle Nicolet, are dealing with the recurrence of Cecile’s powers while raising their newborn baby. Wally, Keiynan Lonsdale, is contemplating whether to still hang with Team Flash or continue moving on to find himself. The best part about this season is that we are back to the light tone of the series. Between Barry trying to do anything to keep Iris alive in season 3 and going to jail in season 4 along with Ralph presumed dead, the last two seasons got pretty dark. Flash was supposed to be the show with the lighter atmosphere in the Arrow-verse. Now that we are back to that I foresee a better season. Plus, it will be interesting to see how the Nora storyline plays out
The last scene we are introduced to our seasons big bad: Cicada. He kills the episodes bad guy Gridlock. He does this with a black lightning bolt. Very Flash-like. Cicada is very powerful and dangerous. Can’t wait to see how he fares against Team Flash.
Black Lightning
Season 1 of Black Lightning was outstanding and season 2 does not look to disappoint. When last we left the Pierce family, Jefferson and his daughters were out for a jog after defeating the source of the Green Light drug polluting the streets. The season is called Rise of the Green Light Babies and they waste no time. We are first introduced to a kid being taken down by the police as his powers manifest and he is killed by police. The community is outraged. This creates the background for the episode.
Season 2 begins with Jefferson, Cress Williams, learning that the school board wants to remove him from his position because of season one attacks on the school which he was not there for. The problem is he can’t tell them that he was there but as Black Lightning. Meanwhile, Lynn, Christine Adams, is going through some rough questioning with the new head of the ASA who thinks she is lying about her involvement in Proctor’s death. Of course, she is but he doesn’t need to know that. She eventually goes to Gambi, James Remar, and ask him to use his connections with the ASA to get her a position to oversee the research of the Greenlight victims in the pods. She gets her wish which does not make the new director happy.
Jennifer, China Anne McClain, starts to have some new manifestations of her powers that she is having a hard time controlling. This basically gets her put on a temporary lockdown until they can understand what’s going on. Anissa, Nefessa Williams, sympathizes with the people of the community when it is revealed that with so many young people in pods they would need powerful lawyers to get the rights to get them back. Plus, any youth on the street who manifest new powers due to Green Light are subject to be possibly murdered by police. Anissa takes it upon herself to go out in another disguise to beat up and steal the money the community needs from the drug dealers.
Kara Fowdy, Jefferson’s old assistant principal who happens to work undercover for the ASA and the possessor of a certain briefcase that Tobias Whale, Marvin “Krondon” Jones III, wants, is confronted by Syonide. They fight and Syonide is killed. Kara then goes to Gambi for help but goes off on her own to confront Tobias anyway. Of course, Tobias harpoons her and I’m not sure why she thought she had a chance on her own in the first place. I mean she barely got by Syonide. But Kara escapes but loses the briefcase to Tobias. On the other side of town, Black Lightning is confronted by Deputy Chief Henderson, Damon Gupton, who reveals he knows that Black Lightning is really hi dear friend Jefferson Pierce. It’s a conversation that doesn’t end well for the friendship.
And the boy who died in the beginning? As his body is getting moved from the morgue to the funeral home the boy comes back to life. He escapes the body bag in front of the police and his family. When his mother rejects him, the boy runs away and escapes. We are treated to some great special guest who are recurring this season. Robert Townsend plays Napier Frank, a member of the school board who is a friend to Jefferson. Veteran actor Bill Duke plays the new Director in charge of this division of the ASA, Agent Odell. We are even treated to an appearance from Angela Rye playing herself commentating on the state of Freeland with the Green Light Babies.
Black Lightning is on the same path as it started in season 1 which is a good thing. It mixes real elements what is relevant in today’s media with the fictional superhero world. Accompanied by a soundtrack of old-school R&B and new hip-hop a tone is set that keeps a world where superpowers are possible in a real-world setting.
Supergirl
You know what I liked about the season premier of Supergirl? It surprised me and touched on a relevant social issue of today and we didn’t see it coming. When we last left off, Supergirl season 3 wrapped up in a nice bow. To set this up, the world of Kara Danvers/Supergirl, Melissa Bennet, is all good. She is pulling double duty as world protector with Superman apparently off Earth and her life as a reporter is a success. She is living the life without too much of a care in the world. J’onn J’onzz, David Harewood, who has denounced a life of violence, is now a part of an alien support group.
When events happen and J’onn informs Kara of the hate crimes, Kara refuses to believe that hate crimes actually exist and that these instances are “happenstance”. You see Kara, although a known alien, is a world savior who looks like and passes for an all-American girl so she doesn’t experience the hatred that the average alien living on Earth would receive. Starting to sound familiar. She then starts to see the light when later in the episode she realizes that there are hate groups made of ordinary people that are out to harm aliens just because they are aliens. Now, this is really sounding familiar, isn’t it? There hasn’t been an episode that hit close to today’s news than last season when James feared the repercussions when the world found out the Guardian is a Black man.
Speaking of James Olsen, Mechad Brooks, he is under indictment for his role as the vigilante Guardian. His girlfriend, Lena Luthor, Katie McGrath, offers to use her influence to help get him off but James insists that he will get through this himself and to trust the system. Of course, being a Luthor she goes behind his back to help him. Lena visits her mother in prison to trick her into information about a crooked business partner to turn over to the DA in return for James case to be dropped. The stipulation is that he can never be Guardian again. Meanwhile, Alex Danvers, Chyler Leigh, has her hands full running the DEO and trying to get along with Wynn’s replacement Querl Dox/Brainy, Jesse Rath. Brainy is not only from the future but from a race where things are logical and he really has no social graces or concept that are relevant to our time. The two personalities clash.
The two villains are Mercy Graves and her brother Otis Graves. They are mercenaries with very high tech and are financed and answer to a man called Agent of Liberty. He is the big bad of the season. Mercy and Otis’s plan to wreak havoc at the alien summit caused a reveal to the world that President Olivia Marsdin, famed Wonder Woman actress Lynda Carter, is, in fact, an alien. As they try to escape, Mercy sacrifices her brother in order to escape. Otis reveals that is the plan. Oh, and remember the Supergirl look-a-like that ended up in Russia the end of season 3? Well, the Russians have her digging a hole under the runaway train Supergirl saved earlier. Between that and the Agent of Liberty thing, I’m not sure where they are going this season.
As I said, the best part was the part where Supergirl is confronted with her own privilege and J’onn’s frustration when she denies it. Although it wasn’t bad the problem was Supergirl is the same show just a different season. Hopefully finding out the story behind this other Supergirl or the identity of this Agent of Liberty will add some life to the season.
Arrow
The big question in Arrow season 7 is who is the new Green Arrow? I think I got the answer but let’s wait until the end of the article. When we last left off in season 6, Oliver got sent to the big house. Season 7 finds Oliver, Stephen Amell, still in prison. Of course, it’s not fun for him because, hey, its prison, it’s not supposed to be fun. Of course, he gets into a lot of fights and he is good at defending himself. Bronze Tiger is back from the CW Suicide Squad that showed up on Arrow about 2 seasons ago but was scratched because of the movie. Oliver is trying to avoid confrontations in order to get released early on good behavior. But that doesn’t work out for him. Felicity, Emily Bett Rickards, is under protective custody taking care of William, Jack Moore. See Diaz, Kirk Acevedo, the big bad from last season is still on the loose so the fear is that he will come after them to get back at Oliver.
Felicity has piercings and dyed hair (worse disguise ever by the way) and is working at a coffee shop and even gets hit on by a customer that she helps with his computer. Of course, she’s faithful to Oliver so this hopeful suiter doesn’t have a shot. Of course, after all these months, Diaz finds them and beats Felicity down before Argos comes in to save her butt. And she wouldn’t have wanted to die anyway with the horrible disguise. She goes to the prison to tell Oliver that she is sending William to a boarding school where he will be safe and she is going to work for Argos because she is tired of running and hiding. Which incidentally is the push that Oliver needs to not just defend himself from fubar (you have to watch the 80’s movie Tango and Cash to get that reference) but to actually start going around kicking serious tail to anyone who threatens him and his family.
Out in the world, Rene/Wild Dog, Rick Gonzales, is running a self-defense school which is not doing so well due to lack of funds. While trying to keep one of his students out of trouble he gets his life saved by a man dressed as Green Arrow. Filing the police report, he talks with his old partner vigilante Dinah Drake, Juliana Harkavy, who is now the police captain who tells him that if they find this impersonator then they will arrest him. Rene reminds her that this guy is doing what they should be doing because since Team Arrow disbanded the city is going to crap with crime running rapid. They go to Diggle, David Ramsey, for help who is now full time with Argos and has Curtis, Echo Kellum, on staff with him. With most of the band back together they have a way to catch crooks and the new Green Arrow. With the trap set, Rene disobeys Dinah’s orders to stay out of it and suits up as Wild Dog to help the new Green Arrow escape. The Green Arrow got away with what he wanted and that was the crook’s money.
The interesting thing that was confusing at first was the island scenes. We come across a man trying to get to the same island that Oliver was trained on and that the big season 5 finale had the big blow up. The young man comes across old and familiar paraphernalia from past shows. He is then trapped. A mysterious man comes from the woods with bow and arrow waiting. The man stops and says he comes in peace and that his father Oliver Queen trained here. The man reveals himself to be Roy Harper and he calls the young man William, the now-grown son of Oliver. Obviously, we are no longer flashing back to the island now we are flashing forward. I thought we were done with this island. You gave it one season off and decided to go back to it. Old shoes don’t fit the same.
Now I am disappointed that it seems the writers have gotten lazy and will not let the character of this island die. They should have destroyed the whole thing in season 5. Good grief. The only thing to look forward to this season is when and how Oliver gets out of prison and will he teach his new prison friend to fight. When will the rest of Team Arrow suit up again without getting arrested and for that matter will Dinah arrest herself. But the big reveal on the new Green Arrow is easy: Roy Harper. Just that since we know he ends up on the island he also escapes the cops for impersonating Green Arrow. Hope I’m wrong because I would hate to think the writers got that lazy. Oh, and we do have the live-action debut of Batwoman to look forward to for the big crossover so there’s that.
Kenny Walker Jr