Across the Arrowverse
Week 3

Who has 5 hours each week to watch your favorite superhero shows, amiright? Well, we do and each week, we break them down for you and let you know what’s going on … Across the Arrowverse!

This week included the season premiere of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow so now, all 5 shows are officially off and running.

Soon, we’ll be adding a companion podcast to Across the Arrowverse to focus on certain storylines and developments across the shows but, in the meantime, enjoy our recap of each of this week’s Supergirl, Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash and Black Lightning.

Supergirl
“Fallout” Episode (402)
October 21, 2018

Tonight’s episode begins in chaos, protesters on both sides of the alien issue fighting in front of the White House. Inside, Supergirl tries to convince President Marsdin (you’ll recall she’s a Durlan) to not resign, not to let the Mercy Graves of the world win, but Marsdin is partly relieved to not have to hide anymore.

“Fear can create monsters where none existed before.”

At the DEO, Alex breaks up a brewing fight among her own people split over the Marsdin reveal. When Supergirl shows up, she tries to convince Alex that the country can be reached and empathy can reign.  In response, Alex shows her a massive spike of anti-alien threads appearing on the Dark web across the country.

At CatCo, James staffs out assignments for the Marsdin coverage and Nia asks him if he’ll be writing an editorial for the paper taking a stand on the Marsdin issue.

At the DEO, Alex is interrogating Otis Graves and it doesn’t seem very productive until the end when he lets slip that Mercy isn’t alone. Alex gives this tip to Kara who jumps up to head to L-Corp. and ask Lena who Mercy might be working with.

Bad Guys Lair. Mercy and Agent Liberty (Sam Witwer) meet up in in their Lair of Evil and she gloats about stealing a necessary laptop and he grouses about how Supergirl is going to be a problem. She shows him some Kryptonite she procured.

“The web is dark and full of fun things.”

At L-Corp., Lena and Kara do their delicate dance of disagreeing on major issues but not letting it get in the way of friendship and burgers.

DEO. J’onn swings by to ask for Alex’s help in finding Fiona, who is missing. But, she’s quickly way laid by Brainy and work matters. He leaves and Brainy tells Alex she senses her snark and snark means she’s hungry. Pizza, Brainy discovers, is the answer this moment is calling for.  He leaves to solve the crisis. In the pizzeria, he places his order for 11 pies (10 with everything and 1, apples and olives only) and runs into Nia (who is there to get espresso after falling asleep on her computer at work).

L-Corp. As Kara reads over Mercy’s work files, Lena fills in backstory – Mercy was Lex’s closest confidant and like a big sister to Lena.  Until she and Lex had a falling out.  Mercy believed intelligence wasn’t enough; humans should focus on becoming as powerful as aliens in order to combat them.  Lena, who is day drinking, says she agrees with the main point – which shocks Kara. Eve Teschmacher interrupts their convo to tell Lena that Kevin Oh, Lena’s chief programmer on the image inducers product, is dead. Eve tells her that his laptop was stolen and its being used to hack into L-Corp.’s mainframe. We quick cut to Mercy getting inside L-Corp.’s systems.

Quick cuts among Brainy at the pizzeria (where his human disguise fades away – remember, he is using the image inducer), L-Corp. and Mercy.  Lena and Mercy are in a race, one trying to expose all of the worldwide users of the image inducer and the other, trying to patch the hack.  In the pizzeria, the owner, who was a big fan of brainy a minute ago, sics his boys with bats on the “traitor” standing before him. Brainy is easily dodging blows as he monologues about the base emotion of human violence but Nia throws herself in between the men and Brainy – she tells the goons to back off.  Lena patches the hack, kicking Mercy out. Brainy’s human facade returns and Mercy throws the useless laptop against the wall. Temper, temper!

Back at the pizzeria, Nia calls the owner the real traitor and gets Brainy his pizza. They walk out together and Brainy (who only got 5 of his pizzas) is confused – he thought the owner was his friend. He would like to get to know Nia and she gives him her name and nothing else. If he wants to get to know her, he’ll do his research.

Nia goes to see James and makes an impassioned plea for him to use his bully pulpit to hold a mirror up to the face of the city – stare the anti-alien bullies down. It’s very eloquent but James rebuffs her – if he editorializes too soon, he’ll be written off as biased by those whose minds he wants to change. No, he says, balanced reporting is the only way to go right now. Nia doesn’t accept this.

“When innocent people are being attacked, it’s not about balance. It’s about justice.”

Back at the DEO, Brainy is still startled from his encounter and Alex senses his unease.  When he hears about Lena’s firewall, he deduces that Mercy is maybe definitely going to try and access the image inducers at L-Corp. directly. Cut to L-Corp. where Eve runs in to let them know that the building is in lockdown. Mercy is here.

As Lena, Kara and Eve begin making their way to the servers (it’s the only place Mercy will be able to access the image inducers now), Kara keeps trying to ditch Lena so she can turn into Supergirl but Lena keeps insisting that Kara is safest by Lena’s side. Mercy, meanwhile, is stalking the ladies via her hack into the monitors in the building.  After some hijinks and shenanigans where Kara hides her super powers (poorly), Lena and Kara end up in her super secret basement of experimental weapons of destruction. Lena and Kara square off, each using a piece of her suit of death, while Kara finally makes her escape. Before long, Supergirl comes busting back in and traps Mercy.

At the DEO, a caged Mercy villain monologues about how the people are angry and she’s on the right side of history. Supergirl responds, saying changing hearts and minds of people is kind of her thing.

At CatCo, as James stares at a blank editorial column he’s contemplating, a commotion arises in the bullpen. Seems someone has played an anti-alien trick on one of the reporters, putting wood chips in his coffee mug (he’s a Dryad which he revealed to this “friend” in confidence). James shames the “friend” into apologizing  but then makes a larger point about how no matter what is going on in the country, that shit doesn’t stand inside CatCo’s walls. They are journalists committed to the truth. Nia mouths a silent thank you to him as he walks back to his office.

“Ignorance is our enemy, not each other.”

At the DEO, Mercy begins working on Jensen, the DEO worker from earlier in the ep who was very anti-President Marsdin after her reveal. He tries to hold to the party line but Mercy is saying all the things Jensen already believes.

We get a quick cut of J’onn continuing on his search for Fiona. He’s at a bar where he is tracking an anti-alien cop who works the beat in the neighborhood where Fiona lives. The cop says he doesn’t recognize the name but J’onn follows him when he leaves.

DEO. Alex catches Brainy muttering to himself over his statistical malfunction earlier when he was trying to guide Kara at L-Corp. She gets him to open up about what happened at the pizzeria and how unsettled he was that the owner wasn’t just surprised he was an alien, but angry.  For brainy, he’s an alien but also Barney of the olives and apples pizza.  Barney is his pizza and coffee name. Alex tells Brainy to send anyone who’s got a problem with him to her and she’ll straighten them out. Jensen walks by and tells Alex all is good but he’s firing hate daggers at Brainy.

We cut to Supergirl addressing the nation. It’s a call to healing the divide caused by a faction within the country.  She tells them that we should all be judged by what we do, not where we’re from.  Everyone on the show is watching (James is finally making some headway on the editorial – it’s got a title now, “Justice is What Matters Now”) and we are focused on Jensen who’s face is increasingly twisting and twitching as we hear Supergirl’s words and we see him staring at Brainy.

After her national address, Supergirl meets the new President, President Baker (guest star, Bruce Boxleitner) and she pledges her loyalty to him and to the country.  He says he’s happy she’s still on the government’s side after Marsdin’s resignation.

At the DEO, Alex can’t reach Jensen on the comms. She and Brainy look at the Graves’ security feed and quickly realize its been hacked – the cells are empty.

We come back to J’onn who has followed the anti-alien cop to a rally. This rally is being lead by Agent Liberty and he is singing a tune in the key of “Blame Aliens for Our Lot In Life.”  He’s whipping the crowd into a frenzy and tells them that he wants them to feel fear. Dismissing what Supergirl days, she’s an alien after all, Agent Liberty wants them to be fearful because if the government can allow an alien to become President, no one is safe.

As Agent Liberty continues his fear mongering, we see a montage clip of Jensen with the Graves siblings; they are inserting the Kryptonite into some weapon.  We see them activate the device which seems to disperse the Kryptonite in an aerosol form.  As she flies over the world, hope on her face, Supergirl’s veins turn green and she passes out. The camera cuts as she begins to fall.  The chants of Agent Liberty’s mob the only sound we hear.

“Earth first! Earth first! Earth first!”

And scene.

Arrow
“The Longbow Hunters” (Episode 702)
October 22, 2018

Oliver gets out of the hole after only 2 days for his near death beating at the end of last week. Back in the yard, Stanley is quick to catch him up that the guy was removed by the Warden but, he didn’t know anything about Diaz anyway – he was just a hired hand. Brick is the guy Oliver is looking for. Stanley is all about it – as everyone is now afraid of Ollie, as his friend, everyone is also afraid of Stanley too.  Oliver tells Stanley they are going to settle scores his way.

At an A.R.G.U.S. safe house, the remnants of OTA and NTA discuss Diaz and the best way to track him and take him off the board. Felicity has written a computer program to think like Diaz and predict his movements. She also mentions people that are in the game now, including The Longbow Hunters.  In case that becomes important. Meanwhile, Rene wants to enlist the help of the “new Green Arrow.” Dinah threatens to punch him in the face and Felicity is against the name on principle.  The team cheers and chug some wine.

Red Dart (Holly Elissa), Silencer (Miranda Edwards), and Kodiak (Michael Jonsson) infiltrate Global Solutions and, after efficiently taking out all of the rent a cops, hack a safe and steal … something. The trio calmly leaves. I think we just met The Longbow Hunters.

It’s not long before we learn that GS was actually an A.R.G.U.S. off site location and the thing that was stolen was known as Prototype B-24. Felicity explains that Prototype B-24 is an ultra high density, renewable battery. We pull back and see she’s talking with Curtis who is working for A.R.G.U.S. now.  He explains one of these batteries can power a town and asks who would mess with the good work they’re doing with them in refugee camps. Felicity snarks that if Diggle gave Curtis a proper security clearance he would know. She offers to hack in to get the report but Curtis stops her – he likes his job thank you very much. Felicity and Curtis analyze the equipment used for this robbery which is consistent with the tech used by Diaz to break into her safe house last week and realize, they must be dealing with The Longbow Hunters.

Cut back to A.R.G.U.S. and Diggle is telling his men that they are hunting The Longbow Hunters, dangerous assassins hired by Diaz.  Go forth and do your jobs! Deputy Director Bell (David Stuart) hangs back to make sure Diggle understands his directive clearly. A.R.G.U.S.’s priority is the recovery of the stolen tech, NOT capturing Diaz – A.R.G.U.S. doesn’t do criminal investigations.  Which makes it super awkward 30 seconds later when John has to tell Felicity that she cannot be let in on the operation and that A.R.G.U.S. has its protocols. I think its cute that John thinks she’s going to live with that answer for even a minute.

City Hall. Dinah is reading Laurel the riot act for incapacitating her officers and ditching her tail, again. When the threat of The Longbow Hunters and Diaz being in town doesn’t get the response she wants, Dinah plays the Quentin card. Laurel says that she cared about him and Dinah tells her, he’d want SCPD to protect her. Laurel almost gives in but then says she can look after herself. With no other options, Dinah sits her butt down – she’ll babysit Laurel herself.

Slabside Maximum Security Prison.  Oliver approaches Brick at lunch and demands to know how to get a hold of Diaz. Brick’s boys start to rise but Brick settles them down. He tells Oliver that he’s playing the prison game all wrong, be Brick’s friend and he’ll get the info he needs. Oliver asks what Brick wants and simple enough, he wants Yorke, the shitty corrections officer, gone. I’d imagine Oliver wants that as well.  Do that, and Brick will tell Ollie whatever he wants to know.

A.R.G.U.S. Curtis finds Felicity hacking Interpol from his workstation and he proposes they use less treasonous methods to locate The Longbow Hunters. Like tracing energy spikes that the super battery will give off. Bingo Bango, they’ve got a hit. off to Pennytown! Curtis tells her he’s coming to back her up and they call Rene to back them both up.

Outside the warehouse in Pennytown, there is a fun reunion and Felicity thanks Rene for sticking his neck out, given the 25 to Life Wild Dog is looking at if he breaks his plea deal.

“Wild Dog’s not here, you see a hockey mask?!?”

Curtis’s T-Sphere comes back and the warehouse is empty, The Longbow Hunters aren’t home. So, Felicity heads inside to put trackers on a few things, no bigs! Inside, they start doing their Team Arrow shtick when an alarm goes off and Curtis gets a ping that someone is coming.  A second later, A.R.G.U.S. busts in, guns up and aimed. Diggle is in the lead and Felicity is all, “don’t shoot, it’s us!”

John and Felicity are arguing about their interference in the A.R.G.U.S. investigation. Felicity’s point is that A.R.G.U.S. was committed to getting Diaz and letting her in, then they wouldn’t have to sneak around him.  John loses his cool and says there are bigger things at stake.  Like batteries, is Rene’s (very appropriate) question? Diggle says it’s more than that. A.R.G.U.S. designed the battery to be part of a directed energy weapon – one with enough power to flatten a city.  Curtis can’t believe it and John reminds him he was not on the “need to know” list. John tells Felicity to restore the data on the laptop so they can track The Longbow Hunters. Diggle tells her that’s a Felicity problem because her interference cost them their best possible lead.

Slabside Maximum Security Prison. Stanley tells Oliver that plenty of guys in the yard can take out Yorke if he asks but Oliver doesn’t want Yorke to die. WWGAD, Stanley wonders? “What Would green Arrow Do,” Stanley elaborates at Oliver’s look. He’d use Overwatch to gather info which gives Ollie an idea. “We need a computer.”

Using a MacGyver-esque slingshot, Oliver takes out the lights by the showers creating a diversion. Stanley and Oliver jump on a computer and, using some Felicity taught skills, Oliver is able to pull up Yorke’s bio. He’s got a pristine record in his 12 years at Slabside (no one is that clean, Stanley remarks) but he’s also got a wife and kid. Stanley wonders aloud that Yorke would probably do anything to keep them safe …

At City Hall, Laurel has given Dinah the slip.

A.R.G.U.S. Felicity comes blowing into Curtis’ work station to bitch out Diggle for blocking her computer. John tells her that this is not Team Arrow, it’s an A.R.G.U.S. Mission and they can’t afford her interference anymore. He asks her to be patient.  Um, negative ghost rider, is her response. John tells her that heir old life is over and it’s not coming back. And neither is Oliver, not for a long time. Felicity needs to accept that.

“I can’t. And I won’t. And I can’t believe that you do.”

Felicity tells John that he’s sitting here doing nothing’ he didn’t take up the hood – the only Oliver asked him to do. What’s more, the last 6 years meant something to her at least and so, she’s going to bring down Diaz, even if she has to do it herself.

Slabside Maximum Security Prison. Stanley is pitching ideas to Oliver as he works out on his poor man’s salmon ladder.  Blackmail is his lasted idea but Oliver won’t destroy an innocent man’s life. “Not the Green Arrow way, noted.” Unfortunately, Brick and his boys show up and he’s out of patience. He gives Oliver a shank and tells him to get rid of Yorke or he will (and presumably not give Oliver the info he wants). Ollie takes the shiv from Bronze Tiger.

That night, during cell check, as Yorke tosses Oliver’s cell, Ollie tries to whisper warn Yorke that he needs to quit or get a transfer ASAP because his life is in danger.  He tells Yorke that he’s trying to do the right thing. Yorke scoffs at this, asking if it was the right thing playing a hero when the Arrow only brought criminals to Star City.  Thank but no thanks for the advice, inmate.

A.R.G.U.S. John comes to talk to Felicity – I guess she’s confined to that one room?!? They reach a sort of detente when Diggle explains that he didn’t become the hood because he couldn’t make the sacrifice Oliver did when he put Felicity and William in harm’s way for the greater good. And maybe that was selfish. Through tears, Felicity tells John it wasn’t selfish and she understands but at the same time, if Diaz gets away, Oliver’s sacrifice was for nothing. Their moment is interrupted by Curtis – the energy weapon The Longbow Hunters will target is being moved out of town tonight by train. Diggle lets Felicity come along after she promises to play by A.R.G.U.S. rules.

Somewhere in town, probably the Glades, Dinah tracks Laurel down to a building Diaz bought after joining the Quadrant. Laurel thinks it’s a good chance that Diaz is using this for his HQ.  They team up to check it out but then have a disagreement on what happens if they find Diaz.  Laurel plans to kill him whereas Dinah wants the SCPD to bring him in.  Laurel isn’t concerned about doing it the “right way.” She got a long list of grievances that a revenge murder will take care of. She heads inside so Dinah has to follow.

Somewhere else, Felicity is in her Overwatch role, guiding Diggle and the A.R.G.U.S. team as the target train approaches. She’s got control of the train and is scanning it for the weapon and bad guys. She locates the weapon and so far, so good, no bad guys are showing up.  Until they do. Kodiak drops in from the roof, right on top of John’s men, and dispatches them easily. On top of his badass Captain America-like shield, he’s also resistant to bodily harm it seems. John sounds retreat for his men to get to the weapon but that’s going to put him running straight into the arms of the other 2 Longbow Hunters.

Diaz Building. As Laurel stalks out a room ahead of Dinah, we are watching her footfalls which all of a sudden, go silent. It’s Silencer and she’s caused all sound to drop out of the room as she and Laurel begin to fight. FYI, the silence affect also has the added benefit of muting Laurel’s siren scream power.  Dinah is oblivious next door to the epic fight going on.

On the train, John’s men run into Red Dart who launches a gas dart and then disables the door locks, trapping John and his remaining men in a car to die. As he begins to lose consciousness, Diggle sees Diaz tapping on the glass, smiling at him. Felicity hears John mutter Diaz’s name and temporarily loses focus. Curtis snaps her out of it and she unlocks the train doors. John heads for the weapon.

Diaz Building. Dinah finally wanders into the room of violent silence and tries her Canary Cry. Also muted. Laurel adds her power to Dinah’s and the combined sonic screams overwhelm Silencer’s gizmo, launching her full force into a brick wall. Nice! Silence recovers though and gets away before Dinah and Laurel can give chase.

On the train, John catches up to Diaz. They fight. Diaz has a fire gun that would make Mick Rory proud. Diggle uses his cunning and the metal lid of a barrel to get in close and even the fight with Diaz.  The battery comes loose and now John has a decision to make. Taking not more than a split second, he recovers the battery and tells Felicity to uncouple the car.  They have to protect the battery from Diaz and The Longbow Hunters. Felicity can’t do it, she can’t let Diaz escape but Curtis jumps in and enters the commands. The car uncouple and John makes it on to the train with the weapon.

A.R.G.U.S. John comes to check on Felicity and she tells him that when she saw Diaz, she couldn’t do it John’s way. She tells him that she sees he is honoring Oliver’s mission but at the same time, she needs to work with someone committed to bringing down Diaz … and that’s not John or A.R.G.U.S. She apologizes to Curtis as she walks past him but she needs to “find help somewhere else.”

Slabside Maximum Security Prison. Brick finds Oliver standing in the chow line and tells him that his offer is about to expire. Oliver assures Brick that he’s going to take care of Yorke.

SCPD.  Laurel comes by to thank Dinah for the back up and to tell her she’s accepting the protection detail. But that’s not all.  Using her loss of Quentin, Laurel tries to explain to Dinah how sorry she is for killing Vinny and for the pain Dinah suffered as a result.

“I hope one day you’ll see I’m not that person. Not anymore.”

Slabside Maximum Security Prison.  Oliver has come up with Plan Z and it’s not great but it is effective. He gets in Yorke’s face and whispers threats to Yorke that include York’s family’s names.  Yorke raises his voice for Oliver to get back and then, AND THEN, Oliver stabs himself with the shiv! He falls back as the shiv falls to the ground, loudly proclaiming the Yorke stabbed him. The shock! The other Correction Officers pull Yorke out of the room (he’s protesting loudly that he didn’t do anything) while Oliver lays on the floor, bleeding from the gut. Brick looks over at Oliver and smiles, quite satisfied at the unorthodox method.

Final Scene in the Present timeline. Felicity is staring into the camera talking to someone about how Oliver made a deal with this person and is in prison because of it. So, now it’s time for this person to hold up their side of the bargain – we’re going to take down Diaz … together. Pull back and obviously, Felicity is in the FBI office of Agent Watson. Dun Dun Dunnnnn.

Flash Forward. Old William and Old Roy sit around a campfire and catch up. William says that Oliver and Felicity abandoned him, no other reason is given just yet. He tells Roy he made his way to Lian Yu because the Arrow head that Felicity gave Young William started to beep three weeks ago. when he opened up the arrow head, it had coordinates to Lian Yu. So he came.  Old Roy advises him that looking for answers there is only going to cause Old William pain so toss the arrowhead in the ocean, leave and never come back. Old Roy walks away.

The next morning, Old Roy is surprised to find Old William still there – he claims that stubbornness runs in the family. He’s not wrong. Old William says he spent a billion dollar development “affordable magnetic levitation” so, you know, he doesn’t give up easily. So, I guess those math skills with Felicity really paid off and the Queen fortune was a bit restored … Old William changes tack and bring up Thea and how the last time William saw Roy, they were headed off together. Old Roy stops him cold and advises him to not bring up the past with him.  Change tack again, he shows Old Roy the Arrow head again and says Felicity said it was about re-connection. And the arrowhead led to Roy – that can’t be a coincidence. Old Roy tells Old William he knows where the coordinates leads, follow me.

Old William and Old Roy are digging up a grave Roy says he found a while ago. They something metal and discover a case with Oliver’s bow inside. Old William is confused as to why Felicity would’ve wanted him to have this, William can’t even shoot an arrow. Old Roy knows what’s up though and pulls out a note hidden in the bow.  He reads it, looks resigned, closes his eyes and then sets the note on fire. Old William is all, “the hell?!?” Old Roy tells him to grab his shit, they’re headed back … back to Star City.

And scene.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow
“The Virgin Gary” (Episode 401)
October 22, 2018

As Season 4 opens, the Legends are old hat professionals, calmly dispatching minor time discrepancies. While Sara is ecstatic with not being a current screw up, the rest of the team is restless with doing the “same old crap” for 4 seasons. Constantine promised them new, monsters. Ray makes a fabulously meta comment about how a dragon would be good for their (Time Bureau Employee) ratings, even though they have a few dedicated fans. Sara thinks they’re crazy. Then, they are summoned to Time Bureau HQ in Washington, D.C. Ava looks very serious …

But it’s all a ruse. This is a Surprise Party! The Legends have fixed history! Hurrah! Ava and Sara run off to have a “reunion.”

Now that the last time anachronism has been vanquished, Ava invites Sara to move into her apartment and be a kept woman. Sara accepts. Until Constantine shows up 5 minutes later and tells her that more than Mallus came through the portal Sara opened between worlds. He drops some mystical bones on the counter and tells her they detect creatures that don’t belong in this world.  John tells Sara that this is her mess and she has to clean it up. Ava comes in the living room to ask if she should be concerned about Sara’s “ex lover breaking into my apartment.” To be continued, says John and he leaves.  The bones start to vibrate. “Bollocks.”

Sara gets Gary to pull up any big anomalies in time, she’s looking for one of Constantine’s monsters but doesn’t mention that to Gary. She spots trouble in 1969 and realizes you wouldn’t notice a monster if you were high.  Unbeknownst to her, Ray has been monitoring Time Bureau activity and saw someone heading to 1969 so he’s going too. He’s afraid it’s Nora they’ve spotted and he doesn’t want to be exposed for letting her go.  Zari catches him and insists on going as well. One question, what’s a Hippie, she asks? We’re going to Woodstock y’all.

In Woodstock, Ray finds some rainbow goo on the ground and Zari finds a dead Hippie in a tree. Nora, Ray thinks.

Nate and Mick wandered away from the Time Bureau party to commit some theft – live a little. Nate has them break into his parents’ house, thinking they’d be away. But, they are there. Mom Heywood is all about Mick and Nate dropping in (to commit theft) but Papa Heywood is a hardass on Nate. Nate is used to this song and dance about being a loser but his ears perk up when his father mentions the 1969 “Woodstock Massacre.” Nate grabs Mick, time to go – there’s something wrong with history.

Since they all have comms in their ears, its not long before all the Legends find each other at the Woodstock Festival (Sara, in particular is digging the vibe). Nate catches them up that Woodstock is currently being remembered for the site of a series of “grizzly murders” and a stampede of 400,000 kids trying to leave at once. Ray contributes his Nora angle which Sara thinks is good news – not like its their fault Nora escaped, amiright? Ray looks guilty.

Hearing a disturbance, the gang finds a large group of Hippies staring at … a Unicorn. A beautiful, magical Unicorn. Ray and Nate are bronies (fans of My Little Pony) so this is their jam! Unfortunately, the Unicorn is a monster and impales a nearby Hippie and then eats the Hippie’s heart.. That’s a nasty and scarring twist!

Mick tries shooting the Unicorn but it’s fireproof. It retaliates by shooting them with glitter goo from its horn. And then disappears. Damn Magical Creatures! Sara is concerned about the Time Bureau finding out (and wrecking her image with Ava) so she sends the team to find the Unicorn while she grabs Constantine.

Sara finds John in DC in 2018, getting ready for a threesome. He leaves that party, though, when he hears Unicorns are involved. Were they musked by the beast, he asks? The sparkle sauce, yeah why? John tells Sara they are in for a hell of a ride. I think he means hallucinogenically.

Back in Woodstock,  the team all begin to hallucinate: Mick sees Axl, Nate – his father. Ray sees Nora and Zari sees love and her hand glowing.  Meanwhile, Sara and John have a heart to heart about the important of being part of a team and whether its better in the long run to operate alone in order save the ones you love.  Sara tells John he needs to be part of a team.  Which is when they find the Legends doped out of their mind and rolling around in the grass.

Back on the Waverider, the team has come down from the Unicorn high and John shows them an ancient magical textbook which has a spell to repel the Devil Unicorn.  Using the famous musicians, the team is able to get all they need for the spell (Jerry Garcia’s saliva, Jimi Hendrix’s necklace and Janis Joplin’s hair) but they still need a virgin to act as bait. Enter Gary.

Gary is hesitant at first until Sara dangles the title of “interim Legend” in front of him.  He’s not sure he’s a virgin given the “thing” he and Constantine did but John assures him he’s still a virgin. Between the Virgin Gary and the pomegranate he’s holding, its not long before the Devil Unicorn shows up, blood dripping from its lips and teeth snarled.

John begins his incantation. A portal opens and the Unicorn, now stripped of its fluffy white skin exposing its blackened devil soul, puts up a fight. It’s got hold of Gary and is pulling him towards the portal to Hell. The Legends grab on his other arm and its a Gary Tug 0 War. Sara flips a knife into the Unicorn which breaks its hold on Gary. But, before it disappears for good, it takes a nip of the Virgin, biting off Gary’s nipple. All in all, Constantine is quite pleased with his Grade A Magic and Gary is happy to be consoled with John’s comfort.

In the wrap up, Nate heads to his parents and tries to make amends with his dad over some beers. Zari confronts Ray about Nora and his continuing sad face.  She advises Ray that Nora is like the Unicorn, beautiful but dangerous and will surely eat him.  Zari takes Ray to a park where her mom is playing with Zari’s younger self. She confesses to Ray that everyday she struggles with having the power to change her mom’s eventual tragic outcome but does nothing. The point is we all have problems, Ray. In Ava’s apartment, Sara break from the guilt she’s feeling and tells Ava all about the magical creatures they released but Ava already knows. Gary was proud of losing a nipple, you see. Ava tells Sara she loves her (calls her goober, aww) and while she wasn’t crazy about Constantine’s involvement, she thinks Sara is an amazing captain who handles tough situations excellently. They promise each other to continue working on their relationship.

In the final scene, Sara comes by to ask why John won’t join the team and also, why is he so much more miserable than usual. He tells her that he’d rather kill himself than move into the Waverider with the Legends and she takes the brush off as it was intended. Have a nice life, John. That night, an unseen malevolent spirit attacks John in his bedroom. He fights it off as it appears to try and possess him but it leaves a message on his mirror, written in below, “I’m coming for you, Johnny”

And Scene.

The Flash
“The Death of Vibe” (Episode 503)
October 23, 2018

Nora used to live in fear of one section of the Flash Museum (we see young Nora in the year 2032), Nora narrates, the section devoted to Cicada. On top of the terrible sound he makes and the fact that they never discovered his real name, Cicada is the one villain The Flash never caught.   Nora also lets us know that Supergirl, the Legends, the League, and even Green Arrow, were all unsuccessful in catching Cicada.  More exposition: Cicada ha begun attacking earlier than her history showed and he’s taking different victims.

More effects of the timeline changing because Nora showed up. Shit is getting more serious each week.

Nora has a plan that involves bringing in Herr Wells to lend advice on stopping Cicada. She knows that Team Flash never bring a Wells in on stopping Cicada so she figures trying something new now, might be the answer. While Herr Wells is full of flattery for Barry, Iris and Kinder Flash (Nora), all to the chagrin of Cisco who is not a fan of the prickly German, he tells them that he cannot help them -they need Harrison Sherloque Wells, “the greatest detective in the Multiverse.”

Sherloque knows all about Cicada and he proves his bona fides by deducing current events among Team Flash, including that Barry is the speedster, Iris has had a tattoo removed from her shoulder and Caitlin is looking to hire him to solve a mystery also.  When Ralph shows up, Sherloque calls him Baby Giraffe … which made me laugh out loud.  In exchange for his master class services, he is charging a significant fee – like sell some S.T.A.R. Labs stock type of fee. But, seems like it will be money well spent since Sherloque has reviewed their case file and already knows who Cicada is and where he is. Let’s go.

Sherloque tells Team Flash that he has built a psychological profile and by cross checking current census data and other points of information, he’s deduced the identity of Cicada as … David Hersch. That’s a lot of footwork Sherloque did to solve this case .. in case that becomes important later. The Flash and XS show up at Hersch’s barn. Predicting every aspect of how Hersch has the barn booby trapped, The Flash and XS are able to take him down. This, despite XS almost blowing the operation by moving too quickly and not waiting for all of Sherloque’s information. If we’re being honest, David Hersch seems fairly unremarkable.  My theory is supported by the next scene where we see the real Cicada lurking behind Joe West. Ruh roh.

Later that day, at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry douses Nora’s party atmosphere by revealing that Hersch is not Cicada. Hersch’s boot print doesn’t match Cicada’s, nor does Hersch have any dark matter in his body. He’s not a meta, he’s not Cicada. Nora doesn’t want to believe and insists they lock Hersch in the pipeline until they are sure. Barry shuts her down, they are not stealing a prisoner from the police if he’s innocent of being a meta and Cicada. Nora zooms off.

Sherloque is shocked at this Hersch news. He’s caught Cicada 37 times on 37 Earths and it is always David Hersch. That “footwork” Sherloque did was based on the first case – the other 36 times, he just put on a show like he did here.  Sherloque insists he’s not lazy but rather, efficient. And, there is no reason that Earth-1’s Cicada should be different. Well, Sherloque doesn’t know about the timeline changes being cause by Nora’s presence. He has the gall to act offended at the lack of information.  Cisco wants a refund. Unfortunately, the money is all gone – Sherloque has 7 marriages, 5 wives and lots of alimony.

At the West House, Cicada tells Joe to summon Vibe – Cicada needs to kill him but Joe plays dumb and refuses to call Cisco to the house. Cicada applauds his courage and then begins to electrocute him with his Lightning Bolt Dagger.

That night, Barry is upset that Nora isn’t learning how to handle her power and Iris explains that she’s carrying around a tremendous amount weight. she explains that Nora realizes the small timeline changes are geting bigger and have now resulted in Cicada arriving earlier than he should have and being a totally different person than he should have. All, because Nora wanted to hang out with her dad a bit.  That’s a lot. Barry takes this in but then they’re called to the pipeline. The evidence of a vaporized Sherloque are found on the floor but Cisco calls “shenanigans” and deduces that Sherloque faked his own death to get out refunding his fee. Barry finds Sherloque hiding in the building and he confesses (to be fair it worked on an ex-wife … twice).  Alone, Barry explains to Nora that rushing in to fix her mistakes only makes them worse.  She needs to take a breath and think through her plan before acting.  She seems to get it.

At the West house, Cecile is awoken by Cicada’s thoughts and comes downstairs to find Joe being tortured. He mentally communicates to her to not interfere but she presses the Team Flash panic button. Cicada realizes she’s there when the baby begins to cry and it comes through the monitor Cecile is carrying. Cicada, who was just about to kill Joe, goes after her but team Flash arrives. Seeing Cisco Vibe into the room, Cicada grabs him and pushes him back through the portal Cisco just created.

Cisco is still on comms and explains his breach spit them out in a forest. His powers aren’t working right now, though, so he doesn’t know where he is or how to leave. Nora explains Cicada is dampening his power. Speaking of Cicada, he is stalking Cisco, periodically throwing a Lightning Bolt Dagger at him.  Cisco keeps running. Sherloque comes in to the control room and has Cisco describe his surroundings. Using a couple of indicators, they figure out what forest Cisco is in and Barry is on his way. And not a moment to lose because Cicada just put a dagger in Cisco’s back and force pulled him across the field into his arms. Cicada has crazy power.

Barry shows up and his powers immediately fritz out. The Flash  can fight but he’s not really effective with no zoom zoom to back it up.  He’s getting his ass kicked. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Nora recalls her father’s words about thinking through the problem. She slows time and we see her working something out. Turning to her mom, she tells her that she’s got a plan and has through it through. Iris tells Nora she trusts her and XS is out the door.

Arriving in the forest, she throws a lightning bolt at Cicada before he powers craps out. While he’s temporarily stunned, she tosses Cisco a breah opener which Cisco throws at Cicada. Cicada repulses it back at Cisco and there is a huge explosion. We see Cicada put himself into a force field and when the dust settles, there is a massive hole where Cisco was standing and his monitor is flat lining back at S.T.A.R. Labs. Barry comes to as Cicada is checking the hole. We see he is bleeding and, satisfied Cisco is dead, decides to leave. Yeah, Cicada can fly, mo fos. A moment later, Cisco emerges from  a portal – as XS shows returns to the forest, Cisco explains that Nora remembered another way to open a breach. She figured that Cicada wouldn’t quit until Cisco was dead so she gave him what he wanted.

“I did good?”

S.T.A.R. Labs. The news of Vibe’s death has hit the papers and the team is wondering how they’re going to catch Cicada, especially if they can’t use their powers? Barry makes the point that having Nora there may prove the key to it all. Also, Sherloque is sticking around until Cicada is caught – it’ll be his way of paying them back. Besides, Cisco won’t give him a breacher to us to go home. Barry suggests family dinner with Iris and Nora. They agree, awkward tension and all, and then Iris proposes that Nora move in with them. Nora agrees though she’s really awkward about the whole thing.

The West House. Joe hands Iris a description of everything he remembers from his time with Cicada. He adds that the way Cicada was holding the baby’s blanket, Joe got a strong feeling from him that he was a father.

Cut to Central City Hospital where a doctor is tenderly checking on a child in a coma. She senses someone behind her and says, “Hello Orlin.” Cicada, out of the mask comes forward and asks the doctor if there is been any progress. The little isn’t coming out of it and the doctor asks Orlin to show her something. He pulls back his shirt and he’s got some kind of infected meta-wound on his chest. She tells him to stop but he can’t, not until he’s finished. The doctor leaves and Orlin kisses the little girl. Joe’s feeling was right, it seems.

Dibny faces a side quest this week in which he feels like Central City doesn’t take Elongated Man seriously as a superhero. Also, he’s still working with Caitlin on her not dead Dad problem. They go see Mama Snow who is on to their real purpose with the forged death certificate and shut Caitlin down hard. Alone, Dibny proposes that he knows how to get the info Mama Snow is hiding.Breaking and Entering of course! That night, the dynamic duo break into Mama Snow’s record room and find a file on Thomas Snow. Caitlin reminisces when Ralph finds a letter for Caitlin. It’s from her dad. Its a combination apology letter and suicide note. I paste a screen capture of it for you to read (most of it is visible) below.

In the car on the way home, Ralph apologizes for dragging her along to a felony only to get the bad news about her dad. Caitlin thanks him for providing her with closure and calls him the best detective a girl could ask for.

That night in the lab, Ralph asks Caitlin to come out for Vibe Memorial drinks but she declines. Her father wasn’t the letter writing type so she’s looking for a clue from him in the paperwork they stole earlier.  Caitlin mentions that it’s a bit of a bust though because her father’s molecular models don’t make any sense, using fake compounds. It’s almost like his mind had gone.  Ralph gives her back the “Caitlin’s Periodic Table of Elements” she described earlier. After Ralph leaves, she gets an idea. Caitlin starts looking at her father’s models and realizes he left her a message. When she’s done decoding it, the message is, “Caitlin Come Find Me.”

We pull back to a security camera looking in on Caitlin in the lab and see a man is watching her on a monitor.

***

In the after credit scene, Nora runs into Sherloque in the new annex living room the show is using and he starts talking about how it was the falling satellite that made Nora decide to abandon the rules and change the timeline in a very dramatic way. Sherloque asks Nora is she came to make that decision on her own …

After a beat, he says of course she did, that they temptation was too much for her. She is XS after all. She gives a nervous giggle and turns away to leave. As she turns from Sherloque, her face falls into an unmistakable, “Oh shit” look and Sherloque looks after. Something is up and he may not have it all figured out but Sherloque is on the case.

And Scene.

Black Lightning
“The Book of Consequences: Chapter Three:
Master Lowry” (Episode 103)
October 23, 2018

We open on a girl, hopped up on Green Light, busting out of the hospital and taking on a small contingent of police. She keeps saying she needs to get home.  Black Lightning shows up which puts her into a kind of trance. He asks why she needs to get home and to let him help. She reaches out for his hand and he shocks her into submission.

Gambi Tailors. Down in the lair, Peter is showing Jefferson footage from the day Tobias showed up but the feeds were all knocked out. Jefferson is trying to come up with a way to get the police more actively involved in looking for Tobias. Gambi tells him they’ve been looking for 30 years, they may not be up to the task.  Jefferson says it’s on them then and Gambi reminds him that Tobias now has Khalil and the ASA briefcase in his possession, both formidable weapons. Jefferson says Khalil is the best path to finding Tobias.  Gambi requests Jefferson grab an unused dart from Khalil if he can, also don’t let Khalil “kill you again.”

Whale’s Lair. Tobias pulls Khalil from his video game reverie. Tobias tests his ability to focus under pressure (it involved burning Khalil’s fingers while he recites the protection money pick up schedule). He leaves Khalil with the thought that with Syonide gone, Khalil needs to step up and do more.

Pierce House. The sisters are watching a report about a developer moving into Freeland and trying to close an important health clinic (run by Revered Holt) for a new multi-use complex. Jennifer is more concerned about her sister dating Zoe B. which just popped up on her social media feed.  Anissa doesn’t want her sister following her dating life and Jennifer tells her she’s going stir crazy with nothing else to do.  She demonstrates an increase in control of her powers when she zaps Anissa’s arm and then tells her Zoe B. is bad news, Anissa needs “soul food” and Zoe is cotton candy.

Pod People Lab.  Lynn and Agent Odell are squabbling over the additional staff Lynn wants to hire to help in the lab.  Lynn feels like Odell is bringing in crazy people, all part of a plan to make her fail.

Garfield High.  Jefferson makes his way to his former office t meet the new principal, Mr. Lowry (P.J. Byrne). Jefferson can’t help but notice the metal detectors being installed in his school. Jefferson does his best to swallow his pride and make nice with the new guy but Lowry isn’t really interested in Jefferson or his ideas.  He tells  Jefferson the metal detectors are obviously necessary or else, Jefferson would still have a job.

BTW, Lowry is exactly the type of nerdy white guy you’d expect the board to put in after Jefferson’s departure.

On her permitted walk, Jennifer senses she’s being followed. And she is. A woman named Perenna (Erika Alexander) introduces herself and says she’s there to meet with Jennifer. Instead of running away, screaming “stranger danger” Jennifer takes Perenna’s outstretched hand and they are transported to … somewhere. The color is all washed out. Jennifer immediately demands to be taken back and though Perenna tries to convince her she’s safe, she consents and returns Jen.

That night, Lynn and Jefferson come home from dinner and Jennifer explodes on them – how could they send Perenna after her without a warning.  Jefferson takes full responsibility, they are trying to help her figure out her power and Perenna can do that. As for the no warning, Perenna thought it would be best if they met without Jennifer having pre-knowledge – so she wasn’t expected to perform.  Jefferson tells Jen that he never wanted her to have this life. He apologizes and they hug.

The next day, Henderson shows up to a crime scene. We’re looking at a completely burnt out car which Henderson recognizes as one of Freeland PD’s unmarked cars. One plus one always equals two, so Henderson puts it together that a Detective Summers, who has been missing, is probably the ashed remains found inside. He also figures that this level of sophistication indicates a higher class kind of criminal and that Summers was probably “doing bad things.”

Lynn meets with Odell’s recommendation, Dr. Helga Jace (Jennifer Riker). When Lynn said she’s crazy, she wasn’t exaggerating, Jace is a criminal, handcuffed and everything. Lynn explains that she wants Jace’s help with the Pod People and Jace is all, “you know what I did, right?” What she did was conduct dangerous experiments causing 10 patients to lose their feet and 1 to die. Lynn still thinks her skills can be helpful. In exchange, Lynn will try to arrange a visit between Jace and her son.

Robin Hood Anissa shows up at Reverend Holt’s office and asks how much he needs to buy the building so the clinic can stay open? Holt says they have a right of first refusal and the FMV is about $300,000. She says okay and turns to leave. Holt prays for her before she goes. Mission accepted, I guess.

Whale Lair.  Khalil brings Tobias the collection and mentions he had to go to one Rion’s house. The guy got distracted with a woman, Khalil says. Tobias explains that structure is important and for Khalil to go teach that lesson to Rion now – nip it in the bud.

Garfield High. Jefferson cleans out his office and has a sadface while doing it.

Anissa, all done up, goes to visit Grace at her bar.  She apologizes for breaking things off without a conversation but reiterates that they were never in an actual relationship.  She tells her about Jennifer saying she needs to try and take things other than “work” seriously and she’d like to try with Grace … how do you think Zoe B is going to feel about that?!?

Pierce House. Henderson comes by the house to talk business. He tells Jefferson about the burnt car and how 2 of the 3 people capable of doing such a professional job are in jail. The third won’t talk to a cop. Seems like a job for Black Lightning, Henderson thinks. He texted Jefferson his info and mug shot.  Jefferson mentions having lost his job as principal (I find it odd Henderson had not heard this) and Henderson apologizes for that. He agrees with Jefferson that at some point, they’ll need to talk about the vigilante thing but tonight’s not that night.

We cut to Khalil’s quest for Rion but Rion’s boys in The 100 aren’t giving Khalil the respect his new super-powered self seems to warrant. Khalil grabs the lippy guy and chokes him out until he sees Rion. Rion … is running and Khalil doesn’t like that. Tobias doesn’t want to have to track anyone down for his money and Khalil puts one of his darts in Rion’s neck. Yeah, Rion is dead now.

Commercials.

Jennifer has decided to work with Perenna and she is transported to a “safe space” which also happens to resemble a salon. Perenna explains that salons have been a part of the black woman’s culture for a long time and it seemed fitting to work there. Jennifer’s first lesson? Craft a box in which to hold her feelings. Jennifer generates a bright gold box.

Pod People Lab. Lynn is getting Jace acquainted with their labs, including the security feature that disables Jace if she tries to step out of her prescribed bounds.  Jace needles Lynn  about using such violent methods to control her and Lynn makes it clear that she’s “this close” to having Jace thrown in a dark dark cell so don’t push her, mm kay?

Gambi Tailors. Anissa is working with Peter, trying to find out info on the land developer that wants to take the building that houses Reverend Holt’s clinic. Anissa can’t understand where the developer, Zlovac, is getting his money from and Gambi confirms he doesn’t actually have the cash in his account yet. Anissa has an idea and Peter promises not to tattle on her dad … yet.

Black Lighting has tracked down the arsonist and through some electricity-based encouragement, gets him to give up a description of his employer – he had “gladiator things” on his arms.

Jefferson runs to Henderson and they are sussing out that Tobias was behind the murder – the “gladiator  things” belonging to Khalil.  Henderson is well aware of Khalil’s activities – a The 100 member was darted and fell off a balcony.  RIP Rion.  Jefferson is worked up that Tobias is working out of the shadows after hiding his activities for so long but Henderson isn’t overly worried about this development.

Commercials.

Black Lightning pays a call to Khalil’s mama.  Black Lightning shuts down her protestations that she doesn’t know anything about where Khalil is. Cutting to the chase, he tells her that if she wants Khalil to continue living, she’ll call Khalil and tell him to meet with Black Lightning.

At said meeting, Khalil mis pretty pragmatic about being trapped working for Tobias. Even if he wanted to leave, he couldn’t because Tobias could kill him. And, Mr. Black Lightning, if not for Thunder, Tobias would have done you in permanently too.  Khalil tells Black Lightning that if he doesn’t stay away from him, Khalil  will track down all of Black Lightning’s loved ones and kill them just like he killed Black Lightning.

Wrong thing to say.  Black Lightning lifts Khalil into the air in one of his electric lasso things and tosses him to the ground.

“You little bitch.”

Yeah Khalil, you poked Black Lightning on your threat friend.  Khalil gets up and tries to dart Black Lightning but he stops it in an electric bubble.  Khalil runs away but at least Black Lightning got the dart that Gambi wanted! Win win!

Elsewhere, Henderson is leading a contingency of cops to arrest Tobias. Tobias seems to be facing his arrest for the murder of Alvin Pierce rather well. He mentions a tip but we get no further information on who betrayed Whale.

Commercials.

Gambi and Anissa, wearing her Robin Hood costume (versus her super hero sanctioned Thunder outfit) have tracked developer to his money exchange meeting. Peter tells her he’s got her back, even if this is a bad idea. She jumps into action and easily dispatches all but one baddie which Gambi snipes. After the heist, she runs the sack of cash to Reverend Holt – the clinic will be saved!  Meanwhile, Gambi opens his front door to see a beaten and bleeding Fowdy lying on his floor. She’s probably not dead but she’s pretty close it looks. He looks a bit conflicted on what to do.

Pierce House.  Jennifer sits with Perenna, who explains that before Jennifer can stuff her feelings into a box, she has to understand what her feelings are. Grabbing hands, Jennifer is transported to her feelings which seems to be basically her screaming in agony and pain as she is fully charged with her powers.

Pierce House. Henderson comes by to tell Jefferson they caught Tobias. Message delivered, Henderson leaves and the episode ends with Jefferson standing open mouthed in the door way. This kind of changes everything about the mission he has set for himself.

And scene.