The Invasion Ends! - Legends of Tomorrow S02E07

Sadly, Legends of Tomorrow marks the end of #DCWeek, and the end of a fun Berlantiverse crossover. I'll be honest, this story really should have gone over the course of at least four episodes, if not a full 8 (or two weeks' worth of episodes). For all that it was a simple "bad aliens show up to kill everyone" story, this episode in particular drove home just how rushed the entire thing was.

With that said, let's talk about Legends and how it ended the Invasion storyline.

(spoilers beyond the fold)

Once again, the strongest part of this episode were the tiny bits of dialogue here and there between characters of all the shows interacting with characters they don't normally get to deal with on a daily basis. As with The Flash's Invasion episode, these were the moments that truly made this crossover work.

So anyway, we learned in last night's Arrow that the aliens have a weapon they are getting ready to deploy.

But who cares, because the CW and the Berlantiverse are freaking trolling us with this, right???

You better not be playing with our hearts, Berlanti. 

Okay, to be clear, the obvious Hall of Justice/STAR Labs appeared in The Flash's Invasion episode two days ago, but the end of the crossover seemed like a better time to freak out about it. My fondest wish is to see a live action Justice League (that isn't that grimdark mess of a Snyderverse, anyway), and I hope this wasn't just a troll.

Also, I'd like to know why the hell STAR Labs even has a building like this. Like for what purpose???

Anyway, our time traveling heroes come up with a plan that involves interrogating an alien to find out what their beef is with the Earth, so Nate, Rory and Amaya take the Waverider back to the 1950s to the original Dominator attack on Redmond, OR. Cisco and Felicity tag along and proceed to be the cutest geeks ever because time travel! In the 50s, the Legends tell the inexperienced tech nerds to stay behind (much to their disappointment), and Nate inexplicably decides to put on the fancy new costume that Ray made for him.

Rory is not impressed.

"Star-spangled idiot" ... I'm not sure how it happened, but Heatwave has become my favorite Legend. 

They do manage to knock out an alien, but then suits with badges show up and arrest all of them. They manage to question the alien before the government goons start torturing the poor thing. Cisco and Felicity have to come to the rescue of their Legendary friends, but the entire team decides they might do some good if they help the alien escape too. Which they do, and they even give the alien the escape pod from last night's Arrow, which was still on the Waverider. Armed with the knowledge that the aliens were first attracted to Earth because of Amaya's metahuman Justice Society team, our heroes head back to the present.

While they were gone, Oliver was being a dick. Or you know, just Oliver.

This is Kara's WTF face. 

 The new President of the US (remember the team let the original president get zapped by the aliens back in The Flash?), has apparently asked to meet with our heroes, but when Kara wants to go, Oliver tells her to stay behind. Because reasons, apparently. Something something I want normal back in my life. Normal? Are you kidding me? You're the freaking Green Arrow. When has your life been normal?

So The Flash, Oliver, Sara, and The Atom go to schmooze with the Pres, and instead suits with badges show up yet again. Honestly this scene is only notable because of the blatant Quicksilvering moment of awesome:

"I saw this in a movie once! Actually, three movies!" -Barry, probably

Turns out that the Dominators formed a peace treaty with Earth to keep their metas under control back in the 50s to prove Earth wasn't a threat, but Barry's Flashpoint shenanigans "broke the peace treaty" and the Dominators are demanding that Earth hand over The Flash or everyone will die.

There's no hesitation, because Barry does have the heart of a true hero, regardless of his mistakes. He is ready to die to save Earth. But his friends wont' let him.

The Justice League be all like: "Nope!"

Meanwhile, a vibing trip between Cisco and Nate reveals that the alien they saved back in 1950s Oregon is at the head of the invasion force, and he knows how dangerous metas beyond just Barry are, because he saw these guys in action. The aliens have no intention of letting Earth survive. Humans are far too dangerous now. So the trip back to the 50s? It actually changed the timeline. 

That moment when you realize you just did the thing that you hated your bro for all this time...

Contrived alien drama notwithstanding, this kind of plot was clearly needed for Cisco to come to the realization just how easy it is for meta humans to screw up with their powers, and that Barry's Flashpoint mistake isn't some anomaly born of asshattery. It was so easy for Cisco and the Legends to screw up time in a completely innocent and seemingly benign act, that Cisco suddenly forgives Barry for the death of his brother. 

Too bad Martin Stein hasn't learned the same lesson. He and Caitlin are back at STAR Labs working on an anti-alien solution, and end up getting the help of his super genius daughter. You know, the one he himself created when he told his younger self to romance Clarissa. Stein keeps his daughter at arm's length, and in a moment that spawned very loud jeering and hissing in my household, he arrogantly tells Caitlin that unlike Barry, he would perfectly repair the timeline and undo the anomaly that is his daughter.

OMG, the stones on these Legends! I mean, Martin Stein has always been an arrogant and selfish ass of a character, who has to keep relearning humility every so often, but geez. And yeah, he learns it yet again, when he finally lets his brilliant daughter into his life, and realizes he can't just erase her (even if he could, which, as Jay Garrick would tell him, is not going to happen). 

Not gonna lie, this is an awesome shot

So, Supergirl, who has inexplicably superfluous in like every episode of this crossover to the point that her presence was almost pointless, finally gets to kick some alien ass. Stein's anti-alien weapon is ready, and Flash and Supergirl have to race across the planet to plant the thingies, while the rest of the heroes keep the aliens busy in a fight. Meanwhile, Cisco and Sara use the Waverider's tractor beam to keep the alien superbomb from dropping and destroying everything, until Firestorm does a thing and destroys the bomb. 

The fight scenes were cool, and it was nice that Supergirl finally got some kind of action. But the real strength of both this episode and The Flash, were all the tiny moments, quick snaps, and quips that passed between the characters at various times. Truly, it was the chemistry between all these actors, and their fun interactions, that made this crossover successful. 

The fun continues right up to the end, with Rory asking Sara if he's right in thinking the new black female president is hot. 

Sara drinks and she knows things.

A second wave of loud jeering was heard from my living room, however, when the President is honoring the heroes for saving the planet, as the Berlantiverse thumbs its nose rather blatantly at Marvel. 

Earth's Mightiest WHO now??? Alert, alert! Shots fired!

That's right, they actually used the term "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" in describing this team. 

Not gonna lie, as a Marvel fangurl, I not only jeered, but I laughed my ass off. Well played, DC. Well played. 

Also of final note: Cisco gives Kara a thing that lets her cross into or call into Earth-1 anytime she wants to. Badass! Musical episode of Supergirl and The Flash, incoming!

Oliver somehow manages to be the most awkward part of this three-way hug...

No foolin', this crossover event was flawed. It wasn't perfect, the story felt super rushed and very simplistic, and Arrow's episode in particular almost didn't feel like it was even a part of it (despite the fact that it was a very wonderful episode of Arrow all on its own). Supergirl was badly under-utilized. The episodes usually sacrifice female characters to useless roles (like Iris West, but that appears to be her meta power anyway) or disappearing them entirely (like Artemis). Had the network spread the crossover over all four shows, or possibly into two weeks, there would have been more breathing room for everyone. 

But as a fan of these shows, as a fan of these characters, and especially as a fan of pretty much all of these actors... it was awesome. I felt good. I laughed, I cried, I shouted at the tv. 

In a word, I was entertained. And ultimately, isn't that what these shows are about? 

All of them can stand to do better, especially for their female characters (looking at you, The Flash!). But then the Berlantiverse goes and does a thing like make a black woman President of the US in Earth-1, and I remember why I'm still into these shows: 

They have heart.

Ivonne Martin is a writer, gamer, and avid consumer of all things geek—and is probably entirely too verbose for her own good.

The Invasion Continues - Arrow S05E08

This isn't just a huge crossover event for #DCWeek; this was also the 100th episode of Arrow, so this one was more than a little special.

Right away, let me commend the writers and actors and director. They clearly felt the weight of the importance of this episode, and there was a whole lot of talent on display here. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but an episode chockful of feels wasn't it. 

(spoilers beyond the fold)

So yesterday's The Flash ended with several of our heroes being abducted by the bad-news aliens, the Dominators. I don't know how I missed it, but the people taken were all non meta-humans, as Cisco ends up pointing out in this episode. That sound you're hearing is me rolling my eyes at myself, because I don't normally miss something that big. But yeah, the abductees were Oliver, Sara, John, Thea, and Ray. The aliens didn't want the metas at all.

This episode begins with something we haven't seen in a long, long time:

Hellllllooooo, Queen mansion, we haven't seen you in forever! 

Oliver is clearly living some idyllic life, one where his parents and Laurel are still alive. But within minutes of seeing Laurel with a giant rock on her finger, it becomes obvious something is not right. Oliver has a flash, like he's remembering something from another life. 

Still, how fabulous to see Laurel again. You never should have killed her off, Arrow. The episode just started and I am already hurting. 

Back in the Darkest Timeline our heroes actually inhabit, Felicity and Cisco arrive at the Arrowcave and let Team Arrow (minus Artemis, who for some freaking reason isn't in this episode at all) know that Oliver has been abducted. Cisco asks for something of Oliver's that he can vibe to try to find out where the missing team members are, and the minute it becomes obvious that he's a meta, Wild Dog gets a stinkyface. "You're one of them." 

Yeah whatever, dude. 

It's okay though, Cisco and Curtis hit if off immediately, and suddenly what I need in my life that I never knew is a Vibe and Mr. Terrific team-up. Pronto.

Cisco's vibe reveals that the missing team members are in Matrix pods. Cisco also reveals that he brought along a piece of the alien ship that landed in Central City, so Team Techie (Felicity, Curtis, Cisco) get down to the business of trying to hack it. But they end up blowing it up because human tech doesn't play nice with alien tech. They need a thing. Never you mind what the thing is, just know that it is a thing and they need it. This is the most macguffin thing ever in the history of writing, but it was an excuse to track down a freak-of-the-week who has stolen the thing. 

Ragman, Mr. Terrific, and Wild Dog team up with Flash and Supergirl to get go the thing, and Wild Dog is decidedly unimpressed with both Barry and Kara and tells them so to their faces. At least we didn't have to wait long to find out what Rene's problem is: he feels that metas attract bad metas, and that aliens attract bad aliens, so the world would be better off without any and all of them. The Dog then proceeds to get his butt kicked by a cyborg lady, and Barry and Kara have to save him, after which Rene has a sudden about-face in his opinion of them. 

Meh. I honestly could have done without this whole worthless side-plot. The only cute part of it all was Ragman and Terrific gushing over how awesome Barry and Kara are. But Supergirl's role in this episode of the Invasion seemed particularly superfluous. 

And where in Hades was Artemis???

Okay but are you ready for some feels?

I was not prepared for how I would feel at the sight of Oliver's parents, especially Moira. Not gonna lie, I suddenly realized with this episode just how much this show has been missing Moira (and specifically, actress Susanna Thompson) and her incredible warmth and depth. Moira Queen was not the most admirable of characters in the first two seasons of the show, to be sure. She did some pretty crappy stuff. But I never got the sense that she was evil, and her being such a flawed mother and wife and human being and yet ultimately striving to be better, was great story-telling. 

I think this episode made me mourn her more than her actual death scene did. And did Stephen Amell and Susanna Thompson always have that level of chemistry, or has Stephen matured enough in this role, I guess? Either way, they were fabulous together. 

Anyway, Oliver's fantasy life is pretty rad: it is the eve of his wedding to Laurel, Robert and Moira Queen are there, Sara arrives to be her sister's bridesmaid, and all is awesome! 

Except Oliver keeps having these crazy flashes of another life. And despite supposedly never getting on the Queen's Gambit, and thus never learning to fight in Lian Yu, he has some pretty crazy superhero reflexes and instincts. During one scene where he and Robert Queen are in a dark alley that was wayyyy too obviously reminiscent of a certain Batman origin story, Oliver faces down a thug with a gun. But ultimately it's the Hood, a dude with a bow, who shows up to save the Queens. But that only seems to exacerbate Oliver's weird flashes, so he ends up following his instincts and arrives at the Arrowcave, only to find that a tragic John Diggle is the Hood. 

Sara and John seem to also be having weird flashes, but it's hard to tell how much, because the episode is fully filmed from Oliver's perspective. Ultimately, though, Sara and John both realize Oliver is right, and that this place is fake. Ray is almost nonexistent in this shared fantasy world, but he is there, kinda. And he also accepts that this isn't right. 

Thea is apparently aware of the wrongness, but she doesn't care, because she has her family back. When Oliver and Sara try to convince her that they need to all find a way out, Thea resists. And in a scene that again taps into some crazy feels, Stephen Amell and Willa Holland really amp it up to the max. Oliver doesn't want Thea to suffer, so he accepts that she wants to stay behind in this fantasy world, and his goodbye scene made me genuinely teary-eyed. 

There's a fight scene because we need some action now, and the Matrix is fighting back against these guys getting out, so it sends in Damien Darhk (who Sara fights), Deathstroke (who Oliver fights), and some random thugs who keep John and Ray busy. Oh, and Malcolm Merlyn as the Dark Archer is there too, and Thea ends up deciding that she doesn't want to lose the only real family she has left (Oliver), so she shows up to fight the Dark Archer. 

What I liked about the fantasy world overall was that the alien device picked out things and people from all of their memories, so there are a bunch of Arrow easter eggs all over the place, and I'm pretty sure I didn't capture them all. 

Still, we cannot leave this fantasy world without a final gutpunch, because the writers want you to cry. Joke's on them, though, because I'm not crying ur crying!

The Matrix (this is not actually the name of the alien device, by the way, it's just my name for it) sends Laurel to make a final plea for Oliver to stay.

By this point in the episode I cannot handle all the feels anymore. 

I don't care how badly it screws things up, Barry Allen, you need to go back in time and save Laurel Lance. Killing off Black Canary was the single dumbest thing this show has ever done, and this episode, and these moments with Laurel, made me realize how badly this show needs her. Please, I am begging you, Comic Book Gods, wave your magic wand and bring her back for good. There simply cannot exist a Green Arrow narrative without his Black Canary. It is wrong. It feels wrong. 

Uggh, okay. So our heroes exit the alien mind probe thingie, and come to realize they are actually in an alien spaceship. In space. They manage to steal an escape pod, but they can't fly it. 

But wait! Remember that thing that Team Arrow needed? Well said thing helped them get coordinates for our heroes, and just when all seems lost, the Waverider, piloted by Nate and Gideon, show up to save the day! 

Sidenote: this seemed like a huge missed opportunity to have Supergirl fly into space and kick alien ass. I mean kicking alien ass is why they brought her to Earth-1, no? She has done incredibly little alien asskicking. Just sayin'

Anyway, turns out that while Oliver and Co. (no not the Disney movie, which yes, Cisco totally referenced!) were dreaming of better times, the aliens were probing their minds for something. And that something leads to the ominous end of this episode:

Probing their minds helped wrap up some kind of weapon the Dominators are now ready to deploy. Things are looking pretty grim.

We'll have to wait and see how Legends of Tomorrow wraps up this storyline! 

Ivonne Martin is a writer, gamer, and avid consumer of all things geek—and is probably entirely too verbose for her own good.

"Invasion!" Rocks the Arrowverse - The Flash S03E08

#DCWeek continues, with The Flash kicking off the real start of the alien invasion of Earth-1 (aka the Arrowverse). Don't come expecting Shakespearean story-telling, because the story is quite simple, but do come expecting lots of fun and a surprisingly good continuation of several existing storylines on The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. You may also expect plenty of butthurt, because someone always has to be angry at someone else in the Berlantiverse. Always. It is a universal constant.

In fact, last night's The Flash rocked its highest viewer ratings since December 9 2014. These crossover things, you might want to keep doing them, CW.

(spoilers beyond the fold)

Okay let's get the simple story out of the way, because it's quick and easy. An alien pod lands in the middle of Central City, and when Barry goes to investigate, a bunch of aliens pop out of it and run off. Lila of ARGUS reveals to him that this isn't the first time these aliens, called the Dominators, have been here, and that back in the 50s a bunch of soldiers got killed for messing with them. Lila and the official channels want Barry to step off and let them handle it, but we all know how that's gonna go. And yeah, the aliens end up coming for the President and abducting him.

So there's your setup. Let's get to the meat that matters (...mmm bacon).

The real Civil War!

The episode actually started off with a brief scene of the future, wherein Barry and Oliver are facing off against all the other heroes, because the Avengers are noobs and every DC fan knows it. Real heroes fight each other with completely lopsided odds: two against like 25, because we all know Supergirl counts as at least twenty of the Arrowverse heroes.

Ok but let's back up to see how we got here!

Some really fun Flashy moments in this episode!

The Flash figures he's in over his head with these aliens, so he gathers the troops, starting with Team Arrow, who includes Speedy for this one because Thea is super excited at the prospect of kicking alien ass. Felicity then calls for the Legends of Tomorrow to join in on the fun. So let's tally this up, shall we? We now have Green Arrow, Felicity, Spartan, Speedy, The Flash, Iris, HR Wells, Cisco, Caitlin, White Canary, Heatwave, The Atom, and Firestorm. Yes, that means the Legend newbies Steel and Vixen got left behind, as well as Green Arrow's proteges, and Joe and Iris are so busy lying to Wally about what a gifted meta he is, that he doesn't join in on the fun either.

But even with this teamup, Barry doesn't think it's enough, so he and Vibe open up a portal to Earth-38 and bring in Supergirl (we get the exact same scene in her apartment that we did in yesterday's Supergirl).

I think the moment I was most looking forward to with this crossover was the Arrowverse meeting Supergirl for the first time (especially Diggle), and boy I wasn't disappointed.

Team Arrow in particular isn't super impressed by the sight of a mildly petite pretty blonde girl in a skirt, as grumpy Oliver is all like, "I thought you said you were bringing an alien."

So Kara is all like:

Diggle's calmly-but-not-really "I'm convinced" is probably one of the great moments in this episode.

Okay, so we now have an alien on the team. Oliver still doesn't seem impressed, and Kara wonders if he doesn't like her, but Barry assures her he's that way with everyone. Despite the fact that Oliver tries to make Barry the team leader, it's pretty clear that Barry doesn't know what he's doing, and when Oliver quietly makes suggestions that Barry immediately echoes, there was another great moment when the Legends are like, "So are we supposed to just ignore the fact that he said that?"

I'm gushing about these scenes a little, but honestly the chemistry between all the actors is there, and these scenes were just super fun. Kudos on the care taken by the writers here, because I'm sure I wasn't the only one looking forward to these moments.

Oliver McGrumpyPants suggests that everyone else train against Supergirl, and he does ask Kara not to go easy on them. If you ask me, though, she went pretty easy on them:

I just adore Kara's expression here, because you know she's all like, "Hee hee that tickles!"

Surprisingly, even though this was The Flash's episode, the story ends up revealing the end of a plot thread that had been left open for weeks now over at Legends of Tomorrow. Stein and Jax reveal to Barry and Oliver that they discovered a message from future Barry in the Waverider's secret room, and we finally get to hear what that message was: future-Barry is telling Captain Hunter not to trust past Barry because of the major Flashpoint screw-up. This is the first time Oliver is hearing about Flashpoint, because apparently Felicity kept the secret pretty well. Oliver takes the news with a heavy sigh (Metas, emirite?) and then delivers another great line: "One sci-fi problem at a time." In typical Green Arrow fashion, he suggests they need to keep this a secret from everyone else until after the aliens are dealt with.

You would think by now these people would have figured out that keeping secrets from one another never ends well.

Because of course, Cisco ends up finding the recording from future Barry lying around (dammit, Stein, really?), and confronts Barry about it. That's the point at which everyone finds out about Flashpoint. And remember that butthurt I talked about in the beginning of this review? Yeah, suddenly everyone is super pissed at Barry, especially Diggle at finding out that Barry "erased a daughter out of his life."

This was also the point at which my partner and I booed, hissed, and jeered loudly at the television. Because wow, the stones on Sara and her team, as they express their disappointment with Barry being so selfish and changing time because of someone he loves. Sara Lance literally just spent the entire first half of her show's season screwing up her team's plans to deal with time anomalies because everytime she saw Damien Darhk she would go absolutely batshit and try to kill him to save her sister's life. And Stein... Stein... who gives Barry his best "I'm so disappointed in you, son" look! Stein, the man who walked his younger self happily around the Waverider! And I'm not so sure that the reveal of Stein's daughter in this episode is due to Flashpoint at all, but rather at Stein's own meddling in his younger self's romance with Clarissa! Jax wanted to kill white Southerners in Civil War Mississippi! And this team kills historical randos in every single episode!

I literally cannot even right now with the Legends.

Anyway, the team doesn't want anything to do with Barry, and Oliver shows solidarity with his speedster bro, so Supergirl leads the rest to go rescue the president. There's a pretty brilliant interaction between Heatwave and Supergirl that I never knew I needed in my life, before they storm the castle to save the president.

Meanwhile, Oliver and Barry bond in a really cute and sweet scene where Oliver says that if he had Barry's power, he would have saved his own parents too. Their moment is interrupted when STAR Labs comes under attack... by Supergirl and her team. Turns out that they not only didn't save the President, but they were brainwashed by an alien thing.

"Well, this sucks..." - Barry Allen, probably

There is a fight wherein Oliver and Barry are clearly going to lose, and Wally briefly zooms in to help, gets hurt, and Oliver has to carry him to safety. Meanwhile, Barry pisses off Supergirl and gets her to chase him all the way back to the alien thingie, and uses her to destroy it. 

Crisis averted! Or not! Because before we can really celebrate, heroes start disappearing!

"Run, Barry, R--" - Oliver Queen, probably

In a minor The Flash continuing plot point, after Wally nearly gets killed here, HR Wells agrees to train him. I mean, in season one, Barry had Harrison Wells/Eobard Thawne to train him. And in season two, Cisco had Harrison Wells of Earth-2 to bond with. So it makes total sense that in season three, young padawan Wally West shall have a Wells to train him as well. Even if said Wells is... a novelist.

Sounds legit.

Anyway, some of our heroes have been beamed aboard by Scotty, apparently, and the story will continue in tonight's Arrow.

I think what I really liked about this crossover overall--despite the butthurt and the complete lack of a sense of irony on behalf of the Legends--is that this really felt like the Berlantiverse was fully interconnected, for once. I mean yeah heroes appear randomly in each other's shows, but often those moments seem incredibly pointless, like the writers are just saying, "Oh hey, don't forget, these universes are interconnected... now back to our regular storylines that have nothing to do with anyone else!" But other than Supergirl's episode, this crossover feels like okay, yeah, these guys all inhabit the same world. Their lives are interconnected as they go about their superheroing business. They effect each other: Barry and his time travel affected everyone, of course, but we also revealed two major Legends of Tomorrow plots here (future-Barry's message, and Stein's daughter), and Oliver Wayne *cough* I mean Queen, is the gruff and smart leader that everyone else naturally trusts, much like a certain dude in a bat costume in most of your Justice League teamups.

Let's see what Arrow does with this crossover. Hope you are enjoying #DCWeek!


Ivonne Martin is a writer, gamer, and avid consumer of all things geek—and is probably entirely too verbose for her own good.