CW, over the past four years, has created big triple threat of weekday shows with Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. Due to it already past mid-season for both Arrow and The Flash, a spoiler warning is in effect.
“Arrow 4.15 Taken”
In this week’s Arrow, Oliver needs to bring in outside help in the form of Vixen to help take out Damien Darhk and save his son William. William’s reveal to Felicity comes as a shock, not for the fact that Oliver had a son, but the fact that Oliver kept him a secret. The strain becomes too much for Felicity to handle as she stands her ground, literally as she can now walk on her own power, and gives Oliver his ring back.
What stood out in the episode was Vixen, played by Megalyn Echikunwoke, and her role in this episode. She was given a lot of attention and it worked well as she not only brings a magical side to Team Arrow but also brings the humanizing element of advice when she gives Oliver a choice when it comes to his son being in his life again.
What wasn’t impressive in this episode is a great deal of sketchy writing and poor choices in character actions. From Darhk’s now sudden uselessness to Felicity magically gaining the ability to walk perfectly fine in one day that, by the end of the episode, created a sense of confusion that isn’t pleasing.
Episode Rating: 7.5
Flash 2.15 King Shark
After Barry’s and his group return from the parallel Earth-2, Jay Garrick is pulled back through the breech and is trapped with Zoom. Trying to take his mind off his guilt, Barry faces two challenges, one in attempting to win Wally West’s respect as Barry and a 10-foot humanoid shark, King Shark.
King Shark, originally a Superboy villain in the comics, has one task on his mind, kill the Flash so he can go home. Visually King Shark is impressive, looking like an actually menacing enemy. The way he’s brought down, however, is lacking in the sense that The Flash, like he does with most foes, runs in a big circle around him to defeat him, creating a lackluster cap to all the action.
On the character front, it’s once again the side characters that steal the show. Both Cisco and Caitlyn, played by Carlos Valdes and Danielle Panabaker respectively, have a great rapport with Cisco’s natural switches from comedic relief to serious genius and Caitlyn’s believability as a grieving and angry widow.
The one character that falls on a flat note, however, is the main antagonist Zoom. In the back half of the season, Zoom has barely appeared for longer than a minute, snapping off some threats and then leaves once again turning him from a truly frightening villain to an afterthought.
Episode rating: 7
“Legends of Tomorow: 1.6 Star City 2046”
After crashing out of the time-stream Rip Hunter and his cohorts are stranded in Star City, home of Green Arrow, but not in 2016 but 30 years later in 2046. The team once again breaks up into three groups and storylines.
The team sidelined on the ship became the easily most forgettable part of this episode creating an unnecessary love triangle and over-emphasizing Stein’s and Jax’s meta-physical bond. These scenes only distracted from the main action and felt like an unnecessary addition.
Outside the ship Rip and Sarah track down a one armed Oliver Queen straight out of Frank Miller’s “Dark Knight Returns” and his futuristic replacement, John Diggle Jr. who goes by the name Connor Hawk. Mick and Snart, on the other hand go on a spree of debauchery like usual but then Snart tells Mick that he’s no longer in this journey for the cash grab but rather to fight for a luxurious future. Both Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell once again steal the spotlight with their chemistry they built on Prison break.
Legends of Tomorrow is a show with a lot of potential but needs fine tuning. One of the most necessary changes is to refine back the roster for each show; with each episode feeling bloated and containing detracting scenes. What the show does right however is its character connections, as the show is developing you see ties between characters developing making each interaction special and leaves you wanting more.
