Of all of the CW’s supershows this year, Supergirl had the biggest chance of stumbling. While Arrow and Flash have struggled, they’ve been steady. Legends of Tomorrow is just doing its own thing. Supergirl, however, leapt tall-building-style from parent network CBS over to the CW, joining all those others shows formally. A change in networks can be a killing blow for a television show....
Barry Allen’s upbeat adventures were, in a time long past, the antidote to the brutal darkness of Arrow. Once in awhile, we still get glimmers of those halcyon days, but even those are often kneecapped and hamstrung by the sense of sadness that has become pervasive in Flash’s world. The third season of The Flash was the most frustrating yet. But to to make sense of why it was so...
CW's upcoming superhero show Black Lightning sounds like a blast, but some news this week has us in shock: Black Lightning will not take place in the same universe as its other hero shows, including Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and, to a lesser extent, Supergirl. We can expect a big crossover next season, but the CW's newest vigilante won't be part of it. "We do not aim to do...
It makes sense that just as the first season of The CW’s Riverdale is ending, the Twin Peaks revival is getting ready to debut on Showtime. There’s a weird sort of lineage linking the two, in both literal and conceptual terms. Riverdale could’ve easily been strictly a drama about attractive young adults taking off their shirts and having lots of emotions. Instead, we got a riveting,...
You know what sucks? Homework. I hated homework when I was in school. In one semester of history in high school, I didn't even bother. And I like history. Very few people like homework. We value our free time. And that's exactly what's threatening the tidal wave of comic book television shows and movies on the market in the last few years. They're starting to feel like homework, and...
Many of this season’s shows are coming up on their finales in the next few weeks, so it’s time for them to bring out the big guns to make sure seasons end on high notes. Arrow and Supergirl are both getting boosts from returning cast members on their way into summer vacation. Supergirl fans can look forward to two appearances. First, Kara Zor-El can look forward to another visit from...
While Supergirl, The Flash, and Arrow are all still marching along toward their season finales, Legends of Tomorrow ended with a slightly shorter season this week at just 17 episodes, and in a weird reverse of the show’s inaugural season, it now has a few lessons that other CWs shows – I’m looking at you, The Flash – should be taking notes on. Time travel is silly. Let’s start with...
The Reverse Flash, now inhabited in full by actor Matt Letscher, hit it right on the head in the season premiere: Barry begins season 3 of The Flash as the villain in his own universe. I kind of hated this at first, but the writers have managed to get me interested in where they’re going with it. The finale of season 2 set us up for a storyline called Flashpoint. In the comic books,...
The first season of Supergirl was all about Kara Danvers becoming Supergirl. She had to figure out just who Supergirl would be to both herself and to her home of National City, and then she had to learn how to face the sorts of challenges her cousin had to deal with years ago. With Supergirl no longer in hiding, the emotional thrust of Supergirl season 2 is on Kara discovering who she...
We’re on the cusp of a new season of Supergirl, with the second season set to begin tonight. It’s Supergirl‘s second season on TV, but it’s her first on CW. One of the big elements teased running up to the debut of the show has been the appearance of the Man of Steel himself, Superman. I’ve seen a lot of hemming and hawing about the show, the character, the actor, and the timing. But ...