Karen’s Pull List: Series 01, Issue 05 – For the WE 10/15/16

Gotta take a deep breath before I go under – because we had a full slate of shows this week. Let’s discuss Comics on TV!

Supergirl 2×01: “The Adventures of Supergirl”

9 cougariffic winks

• What would we do baby, Without Us?
  Two family members showed up this week, and I don’t know about you, but they’re both welcome additions to the Supergirl family. Kara’s cousin, Clark aka Superman, finally made his appearance in National City. They teamed up to help out a space shuttle type craft, and save the other new NC inhabitant, and he even decided to stick around for a while. I love how Tyler Hoechlin is playing Superman, the classic “Aw Shucks” Man of Steel, and I can’t wait to see more.
  Our second newbie is Lena Luthor, sister to Lex. Katie McGrath absolutely KILLED IT. Aristocratic & poised, and in the end, showed herself to be the target of her brother, and not the orchestrator of the shenanigans.
• Oh, the places you’ll go!
  Kara spent her down-time in this episode trying to decide what her next career move should be. Cat has challenged her to be more than an Assistant, so Kara is trying to find a way to find her calling. She tries online tests and outright asking, but after being around her cousin – she decides to be a reporter. I’m assuming this is a plot device so the show can move to the DEO headquarters as a home-base, but it’s a logical move for her character as well.
• Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
  Winn has his own career change, since he accepts a position at the DEO (again, in order to get him out of the CatCo offices). At the end of the episode, Cat makes a phone call that I’m speculating will take her in a new direction as well. She seems restless in her position as CEO, and ready for a new challenge.
  James & Kara also experience a change in status… sort of. They decided to go on a date after their kiss last season, but after this one outing, they think staying friends is the way to go. Also a plot device, but in this case, it’s because they’re taking James in another direction – but I won’t discuss that in this edition of KPL. 🙂
• Metal Man
  Brenda Strong, fresh off her stabbity-stab appearances on FtWD, shows up at the end of the episode as a doctor (I’ll expand on this as well on another KPL) at Cadmus. The villain who was trying to carry out Lex’s plans to kill his sister is being turned into Metallo. *dramatic sting music*

Gotham 3×04: “New Day Rising”

9 Framed Sanity Certificates

• Lost in the Funhouse
  Where else would the Mad Hatter choose as a lair but an abandoned warehouse full of amusement park rides/accoutrements. He dispatches the former owner by “winning” the strong man attraction, and later has his sister brought there by his henchmen. Ultimately, she allows herself to be intimidated enough to back off a platform and become impaled on something on the floor below. My speculation is that life with Jervis is so miserable that she doesn’t attempt to save herself, and since I know his backstory from the comics, I don’t really blame her. (feel free to look him up on the Wikipedia or the DC Wikia) When Barnes arrives to investigate her death, a drop of her tainted blood drips into his eye. We’ll see how it affects him.
• How to Win Friends and Influence People
  Okay, I don’t think I could love the bromance between Oswald and Ed any more than I do now. I’m sure I’ll be proven wrong, I truly hope so, but they were in top form in “New Day Rising”. Ed has the ultimate faith in Oswald to win the election on his own, but Butch wants to ensure it by paying off election officials. Ever-viligant Ed sees this, and tries to convince Oswald to stop the payoffs, but he’s not convinced. Ed stops Butch, Oswald is about to have Ed killed, and then the election is won by the Penguin… This secures the top spot in Oswald’s heart for Ed and a solid back seat for Butch. 
• The Owl and the Pussycat
  After cutting his hair and stealing the Rolls, Five catches up with Selena. We never really find out what his ultimate goal is, but he does try to masquerade as Bruce for a while. Selena must sense something is off, because when she tries to pull off a robbery and almost gets caught. Five gets stabbed, and his many scars are revealed. Selena knows he’s not Bruce now, and he knows the jig is up. They chat, and he kisses her. He runs off just as Bruce shows up (Bruce is totally jelly btw), only to get picked up by Kathryn. He’s about to fulfill his comic book destiny and become a tool of the Court of Owls.

Lucifer 2×03: “Sin-Eater”

8 Dust-Busters

• They took ‘is jerb
  Luc is pretty testy since someone seems to be stealing his jam. There’s a murderer that’s running around meting out vengeance on people who “deserve” it. He’s not concerned about finding him since – in his book – he’s doing the Lord’s work. (get it?) Eventually he works with Chloe to solve the case, probably because it revolves around a porn site, and the judgement-giver is played by none other than the great VIK SAHAY! Jeffster for the win!
• Get a life, Mom!
  After being reinvigorated by the case, Lucifer has decided he’s in the mood for a little vengeance himself. He’s done with Mum infringing on his privacy, so he doles out her punishment. She is sentenced to live Charlotte’s life – including husband and kids. On the way to do just that, she’s intercepted by a street thug and finds out she’s able to throw the dude around. For the second time, the episode ends with a wicked smile from Mommy Dearest. 
• Douche Destinations
  Dan and Chloe discuss taking a trip with Trixie, and they go back and forth about it. They’re still just separated, but they’re living apart and sending a mixed message to their daughter. Ultimately Dan decides that they should start divorce proceedings. I think it’s a power play on his part to see if Chloe will object, but she agrees instead. *sad trombone*
• A Sad State of Affairs
  Amenadiel is still trying to use his powers by stopping a bottle of wine from pouring out onto the floor. No workie. He’s interrupted by Maze, who wants him to take care of Charlotte since Luc hasn’t made an effort to get rid of her yet. He rushes to clean up his bachelor pad, and when he’s afraid she’ll see a stray feather, he quickly agrees to see his mom. When he does, she plays on his frail emotions, and he seems to be sympathetic to her. Later, he stands by when Lucifer addresses her about her punishment, and allows it to happen. Who knows where his mind is?

The Flash 3×02: “Paradox”

8.5 Community Center Bulletin Boards

• Flashpoint Paradox Flashback
  We learn early in the episode that Barry is talking to Felicity about the changes he’s caused by “fixing” the timeline. It’s troubling him, and he feels that she’s his safe haven. She’s sympathetic, but when he find out that Star City’s timeline is altered as well, he goes home determined to fix everything at home by setting up a super awkward dinner party.
• Time for an intervention
  After the failed attempt to make things right, Barry gears up to turn back time yet again. During his trip, he’s yanked out of the time stream by the real Jay Garrick (John Wesley Shipp). He stopped Barry in the 90s, and we get some pretty funny easter eggs about John Wesley Shipp’s former role on Dawson’s creek, as it’s playing on the TV in the diner where they have their chat. He illustrates (with a cracked mug) that he’ll never be able to fix time perfectly, so he should just leave things alone.
• Barry learns about the Circles of Hell (Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud and Treachery)
  This is really my funny and pretentious way to reference Dante – who wrote The Divine Comedy – and each of the circles of hell could be attributed to something Barry has caused to happen because of his meddling. Violence in Cisco over his brother dying, Greed in Barry for changing time for his own reasons only, Fraud because Barry is trying to fool them into mending things without telling the truth, etc.
• Assistant TO the meta-human expert
  Upon his arrival in this new timeline, Barry finds out that he has an office-mate. Julian Dorn is a CSI Meta-human expert, and he is NOT a fan of the speedster. I love his character, and I think he’s a part of what was missing on the show last season. Someone who doubts Barry’s intentions and can be an antagonist without being a villain (at least for now).
• Mirror Mirror – on the wall, who’s the Alchem-ist of them all?
  The Alchemist continues to use mirrors to lure the Rival into his clutches. He’s been sloughing “husks” from people who had meta-human abilities in the old reality, which restores those abilities. Clariss regains his powers, and some of his memories. He fails to defeat Barry and pays for his blunder by being taken out at the end of the episode.
  I doubt Alchemist is working alone – please keep in your mind that mirrors are being used… dun dun DUN!

Agents of SHIELD 4×03: “Uprising”

8 Duct Tape and Paperclip toolkits

• Not so EMPathetic
  EMPs are being used on major cities by a resistance group who are enraged by the Sokovia Accords. They show up in Miami, where Yo-yo is attending a party for her friend who is getting married soon. When it’s revealed that she’s an Inhuman, her friend wastes no time giving her up. Luckily Mack, Fitz, and Coulson show up to help her out, they find a list of Inhumans and where they’re located, and they get outta dodge.
  Another EMP goes off in LA where Daisy is hanging out with Robbie. He’s concerned – and rightly so – about Gabe being stuck in a bad part of town, so they go to get him. Since his car isn’t controlled by computers, it’s safe from the EMPs. I’m actually surprised there aren’t more cars on the streets there since there are quite a few muscle cars in the Southern California region, but I’ll hand-wave it. They get Gabe out and take him home, but not before Daisy uses her powers to stop some thugs from advancing on the youth. When Robbie is out of earshot, Gabe warns her off, saying Robbie doesn’t need that kind of trouble in his life, not knowing that his own brother is himself a powered individual.
  The best part of the EMP storyline was that Fitz was left without his gadgets and had to MacGyver a low-tech solution to stop the device in LA from sending out it’s pulses. I love how far his character has come from the first season. He could actually be a field agent if he had a little more training from May, and he would never have survived back then. He. Is. Awesome. 
• Nadeer (Nadir) is the lowest of the low
  Throughout the episode we see interviews on television with a Senator (played by Parminder Nagra from ER & The Blacklist). She is also against the Accords, and we find out later that her brother is also affected by the Terragen Crystals.
• May-there and Em reunion
  I know, this is a horrible storyline title. Sorry. 😐
  May is back at headquarters, but is very much affected by whatever the ghosts did to her brain. Simmons and Radcliffe use Stark-tech to isolate the part of her brain that’s causing the issue, but the only real solution is to kill her and “reboot” her brain to kill off the area that’s hyperactive. You know where this is heading right? Since they’re in DC and it’s a major city, an EMP goes off there as well, and they can’t revive her with the defibrulator. Simmons tries in vain to manually resuscitate, and all seems lost when Radcliffe grabs the power unit from Aida. May is saved, but what are the repercussions from her trauma? I hate seeing her vulnerable, but I’m sure she’ll have some sort of lingering issues.

Arrow 5×02: “The Recruits”

9 Business Suit Clad Showoffs

• They put everything on the line 
  Oliver is convinced he needs a team, so he recruits Evelyn Sharp (the fake Canary from last season), Ray Ramirez (Wild Dog), and Curtis (okay, he volunteered). Ollie needs to train them, and he uses a technique from his Bratva days. It’s echoed in the flashbacks during the episode. I call that storyline “Bratva yadda yadda,” but I’ll just include the write-up here. In the flashbacks, we see Ollie brutally beaten as he’s told to stand on a line over and over again while he tries to get past some Russian thugs to ring a bell. They rough him – and the other recruits – up as he reaches them, every time. In the present, he’s definitely roughing them up, although not nearly as brutally, and his recruits are not taking it well.
  Back in Russia, Ollie figures out that the recruits have to work as a team to get past the toughs, and the others go along with it. Oliver is the one to ring the bell, and Anatoli steps out from the shadows to kill the other three men, leaving Ollie as the sole survivor. He’s “welcomed” to the Bratva, and told that it was noticed how he led the other men, and that was the point of the excercise.
  Back in the present, Oliver doesn’t employ those same methods. Instead, he takes Felicity’s advice and trusts his recruits to learn his identity behind the mask. He reveals that the mayor is also the Green Arrow, and when he becomes vulnerable to them, they all decide that they’re on-board for the ride. He has their respect.
• From Rags to Missions
  Meanwhile, there’s a new guy in town, and he’s trying to take down the head of AmerTech. The company manufactured the bomb that destroyed Havenrock, and he’s the only survivor of that attack. His father saved him by wrapping him in those somehow enchanted rags, and he’s using them to squeeze the CEO of AmerTech to death. Ollie intercepts him and convinces him to let her go – and later they meet on a rooftop where Oliver convinces him that his abilities could be channeled into doing good things for Star City by his side. Another recruit is born.
• Detective to Deputy
  Lance is back, and he’s not in good shape. Although he’s lost another daughter, and it doesn’t look like this one is coming back. (but of course she is because the actress has a contract…) He’s drinking again, and when Thea finds him he’s at a very low point in his life. Probably lower than he’s ever been. In order to give him a purpose, he offers him a job as Deputy Mayor… so we’ll have to see how that goes. It may not turn out how she intends it to.
• Sorry you left the team yet Dig?
  Dig is serving his country by going on a mission to take triggers from nukes so Chechen rebels can’t seize them. He finds out that his CO is intercepting them to make a profit, and once he does, he’s apprehended and a member of his team is executed right in front of him. I guess leaving Star City isn’t a walk in the park. Oh Dig. Trouble seems to follow you wherever you go.

Legends of Tomorrow 2×01: “Out of Time”

8.5 Brilliant Threesomes

• Heywoodja help me?
  Nate Heywood (who I’ll be talking about in a future post, I’m sure) barges into Oliver Queen’s office and immediately lets him know he’s onto him as the Green Arrow. He asks him about the “Legends,” as they’re his friends, because they’ve been marking points in time and he’s been noticing  it. Oliver accompanies him to the water off the coast New York where the Waverider sits submerged – the sole occupant being Mick Rory. 
• The Meaning of Life
  The parting scene last season was from Rex Tyler telling them not to travel to 1942. While Mick is telling Ollie and Nate about the circumstances leading to his encampsulation, he reveals that they had no choice but to go there in order to stop the destruction of New York. 
• Medieval Good Times
  One of their fist missions sends them to Medieval England in order to make sure that King Louis XIII survives an attack by Cardinal Richelieu, but it doesn’t stop Sara from getting up to some shenanigans with the lady of the castle. 
• Jax of All Trades
  Jax has been making repairs on the waverider for a year now, but in this episode, Rip is training him more intensely than usual. When Jax asks him what’s up, he reveals that he might not always be around to do the maintenance, and he wants Jax to be prepared.
• Desperate Times Require Desperate Measures
  We find out Rip has truly been preparing for the eventuality that there will come a time when something catestrophic happens, and he’ll have to make a decision to save the crew instead of saving the mission. He scatters the Legends throughout time and allows the waverider to absorb the blow of the nuclear blast. Nate finds Ray in pre-historic South Dakota, about to be devoured by a T-Rex. About to be hanged as a witch, Sara has been corrupting the women of Salem, and Jax & the Prof have been entertaining a Joffrey-like King in the Middle Ages. 
• What are you, some kind of Einstein?
  Turns out Damien Darhk is the instigator of the early atomic invention. He kidnapped Albert Einstein in 1942 and forced him to build the bomb that takes out NYC two years before the bomb is even supposed to be invented. Once the gang (minus Rip) is back together, they grab Einstein before Darhk can get to him – and problem solved… right? NOPE! Einstein’s ex-wife was an equal partner intelligence-wise, so Damien turns his attention towards her instead. They force Albert to “out” his ex as a full collaborator which – for some reason – changes things slightly and it safeguards the uber-genius. They can’t stop the bomb, which leads to the scattering mentioned in the plotpoint above.
• Finding Justice, in and out
  Once his plan is foiled (for now), we see Damien in the sub. The Germans with which he was working pointed out that they’ve never seen his partner. They’re dispatched, and his partner is revealed to be none other than Reverse Flash/Eobard Thawne. Thus begins the Injustice League formation.
  On the other side of the equation, once the gang comes back from 1942, we’re reminded they were warned away by Rex Tyler as they get a visit from the other members of the Justice Society of America. Rex Tyler is the alter-ego of Hourman, a member of that same group. Nate Haywood has a very close tie to one of the people who stand in front of them – but he may not know it yet.

Luke Cage 1×03: “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight?”

9 Best fight scenes EVER

• COME. AT. ME. BRO.
  This is perhaps the most satisfying fight scene I have EVER watched… EVER. Last week, Pop was killed in a drive-by carried out by one of Cottonmouth’s thugs. Luke is ready to take out his anger on the crime lord, and he forms a plan to play on Cotton’s paranoia. He breaks into the man’s strongholds one by one, forcing him to move all his cash to Crispus Attucks, which he thinks is impenitrable. He doesn’t account for indestructable Luke Cage though.
  Luke shows up, taking a car door as a shield – a la Captain America – and starts to plow through the guards inside Cottonmouth’s “Fort Knox. The rampage is set to Wu Tang Clan’s “Bring Da Ruckus,” and by the end, Luke has used the car door, a water pipe, and a couch – as well as his body – to take out every last henchman. He takes most of the cash, leaving just enough for the cops in order for them to grab evidence against Cottonmouth, and he pays the bills to keep Pop’s barbershop open.
• That Means Guerro
  Cottonmouth gets a visit from another mob boss, Domingo, and while they’ll still have a feud after this, it’s really the impetus for Luke to set up the run on Cottonmouth’s assets. When Domingo leaves Cottonmouth’s club, he mutters something in spanish, and the club owner asks his right hand man to get a spanish dictionary.
• RIP Genghis Connie’s
  This episode reveals that Misty’s partner is a bad cop, and he tells Cottonmouth that Luke – not Domingo – is the man who raided his stronghold. Revenge is not best served cold to Cottonmouth, and he proves it by sending a missile straight into Luke’s building, leveling it.
• That boy is GOOD!
  There’s a scene in this episode while Luke is setting up the robberies that’s punctuated by Charles Bradley singing “Ain’t It a Sin” at Harlem’s Paradise. It’s an amazing montage, but it totally reminded me of the “Sexual Chocolate” scene from Coming to America.

Nice Girl Ange chimed in with her thoughts again this week. Thanks Ange!

“The return of Supergirl lived up to the hype for me. Melissa Benoist as usual is delightful and I love the banter between Supergirl/Kara and Superman/Clark. Speaking of which, Tyler Hoechlin absolutely nailed it as the latest version of the much loved superhero. He is so charming! Can this show pretty please keep him around?”

She also did some live tweeting, and had some great thoughts, so I thought I’d share those with you as well. (click on the image to enlarge in a new tab) She’s a great follow, so you can hit her up on twitter here!

That’s it for now, Next week I’ll be talking about these episodes:

Monday:

Supergirl 2×02 “The Last Children of Krypton”
Gotham 3×05 “Anything for You”
Lucifer 2×04 “Lady Parts”

Tuesday

The Flash 3×03 “Magenta”
Agents of SHIELD 4×04 “Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire”

Wednesday

Arrow 5×03 “A Matter of Trust”

Thursday

Legends of Tomorrow 2×02 “The Justice Society of America”

AND

Luke Cage 1×04 “Step in the Arena”