Special event this week, as we got the return of David Ramsey, reprising his character of John Diggle in the first of five guest appearances he’ll be making across the Arrowverse this season.
His role here on Batwoman wasn’t too big or plot critical (understandable, given John’s never met any of these people before), but he got to trot out the patented Sage Diggle Advice and hint at some growing problem he’s having, so I’m satisfied.
Though I am wondering: how famous is John Diggle? Team Arrow all gave up their secret identities, so John Diggle = Spartan should be public knowledge. And given Oliver’s death warranted a live address from the President of the United States, clearly they’ve got some widespread recognition. Yet when John introduced himself as John Diggle from Star City, no one was like, “Wait, you’re not that John Diggle, are you?”
Legends of Tomorrow 6×06: “Bishop’s Gambit”
Wow.
A lot happened in this episode, but I’m kinda stuck on that Sara reveal at the end.
I was assuming the sci-fi stuff this season would stick to goofy monster movie or space opera fare, not delve into the heady waters of what makes you … well, you,when your body and your mind can be copied by technology.
It’s especially interesting to raise that question because, as we saw last week, here the soul isn’t an abstract concept that’s up for debate. On Legends of Tomorrow, souls are real, they’re tangible, Astra keeps a bunch of them in her purse. “What happened to the soul of the original Sara Lance?” is a question the Legends should be able to get a definite answer on … and depending on the answer they get, things could go very bad for Clone!Sara.
(And if they really want to get into questions of identity, they could bring up the fact that, technically, all of the Legends except Sara died during Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the crew we’ve been following for the past year are their Earth-Prime doppelgangers.)
Batwoman 2×16: “Rebirth”
I’ll admit, I’ve been kind of losing interest in Batwoman.
While replacing the lead character hasn’t helped, I think that’s only exacerbated a problem the show would likely have anyway. It’s something I’ve seen in a lot of soap opera-ish dramas:
They’ll start off with a cast of characters who all have dark secrets and rich histories with each other. But then those dark secrets get revealed and those rich histories get explored. Not knowing what to do without those dramatic tools, the show either introduces new characters with their own dark secrets and histories, or starts grafting even more dark secrets and histories onto existing characters (or both). Either way, it never feels as natural or as truly engaging as what they started with.
I feel like Batwoman is having that problem, not knowing what to do without the Kane family psychodrama it was built on. I’ve found Ryan fun when she gets to be fun as Batwoman, but her and Safiyah’s crew aren’t carrying the same high drama that Kate and Alice did in Season 1. And trying to prolong and complicate that Season 1 dynamic with hypnotically repressed memories and implanted personalities … it’s driving a bit too far into ludicrous territory.
Though the way Mary struggles to process all these insane revelations … almost makes it worth it. As does her continued frustration with being Kate’s least favorite person.
The Flash 7×13: “Masquerade”
I’m really, truly, inordinately glad that Flash has been back in villain-of-the-week mode. After more emotional weight was placed on the Forces than they could reasonably bear, it’s nice to have Team Flash going up against baddies who aren’t meant to carry more than a single, standalone adventure. Plus, I love that we’re at the point where this show can introduce an ancient, mystical mask that houses a psychic entity, and just have it be a one-off bad guy, without even a token effort to claim dark matter created it somehow.
On a different note (and this is something I wish I’d brought up last week) does anyone else think the treatment of metahumans is a bit … inconsistent? Joe quit the police force because he couldn’t stomach how the government was turning against metahumans, ignoring their rights, and letting Kristen Kramer carry out her vendetta against them. And yet … Frost got paroled from her life sentence after, what? A couple weeks in prison? And then Neo-Rainbow Raider steals a blimp and tries to drop diamonds and frickin’ gold bars on people’s heads, and her punishment is … community service.
Some things don’t seem to fit here.
Superman & Lois 1×10: “O Mother, Where Art Thou?”
This kinda felt like … not a season finale, since there’s still a fair bit unresolved. But it certainly felt like a penultimate episode, clearing away the big world conquering army so the next ep can resolve the season’s story with a personal showdown.
Except we know there’s five more episodes left to go, exactly one-third of the season, so obviously there’s some twist coming up. Although, originally this season was only supposed to be 13 episodes, and got bumped up to 15 at a fairly late stage, so who knows how that affected the layout of the plot.
Random thought: Lara could tell Superman was in love with Lois just from the way he looked at her. Is that supposed to be motherly instinct, or can anyone who’s good with body language pick up on that? ‘Cause part of me’s hoping we get a scene where Lana tells her good friend Clark, “I think Superman’s trying to bone your wife.”
Question of the Week: What’s been your favorite pep talk?