DC TV Watch: ‘Arrow’ Drags Oliver Down to His Lowest Point Yet

Welcome to The Hollywood Reporter‘s weekly DC TV Watch, a rundown of all things DC Comics on TV. Every Friday, we round up the major twists, epic fights, new mysteries and anything else that goes down on The CW’s Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl and Fox’s Gotham and what it all means. Note: Gotham and Supergirl did not air new episodes this week.

The Flash

Hero or villain? Barry Allen (Grant Gustin) ended up saving Wally West (Keiynan Lonsdale) from his imprisonment in the Speed Force by the end of this week’s episode — no surprise there. But Wally’s rescue unfortunately came at the expense of Jay Garrick (John Wesley Shipp). Since the Speed Force required a balance, Wally couldn’t leave without another speedster taking his place, and Jay wouldn’t let Barry sacrifice himself so the Golden Age hero stayed behind. Barry might be the protagonist of our story, but he’s certainly not the hero anymore. How many times is he going to let people die or take the fall for him, just because he’s “the Flash?” Jay is a much better “hero” than Barry with a lifetime of saving people and making the right calls, and the multiverse is surely going to suffer now that Earth-3’s savior is out of commission. 

Legends of Tomorrow

Legendary narrator: Mick (Dominic Purcell) needs to narrate every episode’s intro. Each time he reads the series synopsis, he gets funnier, blunter and more exasperated. It’s just another way that Legends has leaned into the show’s comedy this season, and it’s working on all fronts. Like having Martin Stein (Victor Garber) break out into the Banana Boat song mid-crisis. Pure hilarity: 

Power struggle: The fight over the Waverider’s captain chair has officially ended, and Sara (Caity Lotz) won. Rip (Arthur Darvill) took a while to relinquish his claim of leadership over the team, but he eventually realized that Sara was a better captain than he ever was. The team is running smoothly under her command; there’s less infighting among the group; and they’re accomplishing their missions faster and faster. It was a relief to see Rip finally accept this (the future is totally female), and it’s truly amazing to see just how far Sara has come since she first debuted on Arrow. This isn’t the lost assassin that used to date Oliver (Stephen Amell). Now she’s a mature, strong, calm-under-pressure captain of a time-traveling team of Legends. Quentin (Paul Blackthorne) would be so proud. 

Changing the future: After Nate (Nick Zano) revealed Amaya’s (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) future tragic family history in a heated moment, she did the worst possible thing she could do and learned her future. Did she just sabotage her own lineage’s destiny? What does this mean for her granddaughter Mari McCabe (Megalyn E.K.), who will become Vixen in the present day? Amaya knows the danger of changing the past and the future, but her family’s destiny is wracked with horrible atrocities and hardships, so there’s no telling what she’s going to do with this information.

Arrow 

Adrian 2.0: Unmasking Prometheus as Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra) has been the best move this season on Arrow. Now the formerly boring “good guy ally” can show his true self, and he’s delightfully unhinged. His smiles have become downright evil and his glee over being 10 steps ahead of Oliver at every turn is dynamic to watch. He even killed his own wife when Oliver tried to use her as leverage. There’s no telling just how far Adrian will go to destroy Oliver, especially now that his alliance with Talia al Ghul (Lexa Doig) has been revealed.

Oliver’s breakdown: And Adrian’s plan is definitely working. Before he took Oliver as his captive at the end of the hour, he pushed Oliver to his breaking point. Oliver completely trashed the Arrow Cave, destroying the mannequin wearing his Green Arrow suit and decided that putting his trust in new recruits, old teammates and a new girlfriend only made him weaker. Amell’s acting in this emotional low highlighted just how much Oliver has evolved as a person, realizing how many people he’s let into his heart and world. Thankfully, Diggle (David Ramsey) was there to talk Oliver off the ledge figuratively, but now that Adrian has Oliver locked up, how much more damage will he inflict? How much lower can Oliver get?

What did you think of all the shocking twists, reveals and mysteries on the DC Comics shows this week? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Gotham airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox; Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on The CW; The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW; Legends of Tomorrow airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW; and Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.