DC TV Watch: ‘The Flash,’ ‘Arrow,’ ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ Dish Huge Midseason Cliffhangers

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: Supergirl and Gotham did not air new episodes this week.

The Flash midseason finale

A bleak future: Just when Barry (Grant Gustin) thought he had defeated speed god Savitar by throwing the Philosopher’s Stone into the speed force, he accidentally ran five months into the future to see just how wrong he was. Not only was Savitar freed from the stone five months from now, he was also proving a point to Barry that he could never defeat him by killing Iris (Candice Patton) right in front of Barry. Jay Garrick (John Wesley Shipp) pulled Barry back to the present before he could do anything to mess up the timeline in the future, but the damage was done and Barry has now seen his own bleak future — something that a speedster should never do, according to Garrick. With Iris’ imminent death hanging over Barry’s head — including the prophecy Savitar told him: “One shall betray you. One shall fall. One will suffer a fate far worse than death.” — things are not looking up for Team Flash in the second half of this season. Barry learned from his mistakes with Flashpoint and won’t mess with the past ever again. But what about messing with the future? At least now we know why Iris’ byline on Barry’s future newspaper disappeared, since she won’t be alive to write it anymore.

“WestAllen“: But who’s to say that The Flash won’t actually do the unthinkable and go through with killing Iris? As Garrick pointed out, what Barry saw was only one possibility of the future, so Iris’ fate is not set in stone. And let’s certainly hope not, because Iris is by far one of the best characters on The Flash. She’s smart in a normal, relatable way (unlike the STAR Labs geniuses), brave, compassionate, driven and most of all, she constantly inspires Barry to make the right call and be the best Flash he can be. If she does get killed by Savitar, not only would it be a massive blow to the show, it would forever change Barry and take away the cheerful aspects that make him such a fan-favorite superhero. “WestAllen” has finally gotten to a good, stable place this season — they’re even moving in together — which means in TV terms, it’s time for a shakeup, but that doesn’t mean that Iris should be killed. However, if she does die by Savitar’s hand, that takes care of two of the prophecies: She would fall, and Barry would suffer a fate far worse than death by losing the woman he loves. Could someone on the STAR Labs team be responsible for Iris’ death, fulfilling the third part of the prophecy?

The Wests: Or is the prophecy all about the West family now that Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) has his Kid Flash suit? Iris would fall, Wally could somehow betray Team Flash since they haven’t been supporting him in his training and Joe (Jesse L. Martin) would suffer a fate worse than death by essentially losing both his kids. There are so many questions to agonize over during the holiday break. At least we finally got one answer for sure: Julian (Tom Felton) is indeed Doctor Alchemy, but he didn’t know it. Turns out he was blacking out and Savitar was using the Philosopher’s Stone to take over his body to recruit followers, but now that Savitar is in the speed force, Julian is free and finally acting friendly towards the STAR Labs team. It’s a Christmas miracle. 

Arrow midseason finale

Target by association: Prometheus didn’t pull any of his punches in the midseason finale when getting his revenge on Oliver (Stephen Amell) for killing his father, a corrupt businessman on The List, way back in season one. But instead of focusing on killing Oliver, the mysterious hooded villain decided to first completely fracture Team Arrow. He kidnapped Felicity’s (Emily Bett Rickards) boyfriend, Detective Billy Malone (Tyler Ritter), and dressed him up in the Prometheus costume, knowing Oliver would kill him without hesitation, meaning her ex-fiance murdered her current boyfriend. He called Diggle (David Ramsey) and pretended to be Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson) asking for help, luring Dig to a trap where he was arrested by the authorities, ending his life as a fugitive in hiding. He attacked Curtis (Echo Kellum) in front of his husband Paul (Chenier Hundal), leading Paul to walk out on their marriage because he couldn’t handle Curtis’ dangerous life as a vigilante on Team Arrow. Evelyn (Madison McLaughlin) revealed her betrayal to the team and disappeared. Even though the rest of them all shared a group hug in the Arrow Cave to show that they don’t blame Oliver for their personal tragedies, there is no way this won’t affect the team trust and dynamic moving forward. 

Back from the dead: The biggest twist that is going to be throwing Oliver into a tailspin, however, was the surprise visitor to the Arrow Cave at the end of the midseason finale. After seeking out comfort from his new love interest Susan Williams (Carly Pope), he walked into the lair only to find recently deceased Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) waiting for him, smiling. The look of absolute shock and confusion on Oliver’s face was perfect considering he watched Laurel die brutally last season. There are a few explanations that could make sense of her surprise resurrection: 1. She could be a figment of Oliver’s imagination. Having just gone through an extremely traumatic experience of accidentally killing Billy and having a few drinks, he could be hallucinating, although that would be too low stakes of a reveal for a midseason finale cliffhanger. 2. Someone could have used a Lazarus Pit to bring her back to life like she did for her sister Sara (Caity Lotz). However, the show has already made it clear that it is done using the trope of bringing back someone from the dead with magic, so this is just as unlikely. 3. This is not the Laurel we know, but rather Earth-2’s evil doppelganger Black Siren. Prometheus could have traveled to Central City to break her out of the pipeline and convinced her to join his crusade by impersonating Laurel to become another mole for him now that Artemis blew her cover. This seems like the most likely explanation, and it would be the most fun as Cassidy would get to flex her evil villain muscles once more for a compelling new arc on her former series. No matter what happens next with this new “Laurel,” having Cassidy return to the show is a good move.

Legends of Tomorrow midseason finale

Captain Cold and Heatwave reunite: Speaking of hallucinations, Legends of Tomorrow staged yet another comeback this week when Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell) started having visions of his dead partner Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller). The hallucination of Snart appeared to Rory to give him a hard time for slowly becoming a hero, especially when his relationship with new Legend team member Amaya (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) started to grow. Rory did his best to ignore Snart’s teasing and attempts to woo him back to the dark side, but can he keep that up for long? Out of all the Legends team members, Rory has the weakest will and has been looking for partner ever since he lost Snart. Could he be tempted to turn criminal once more? And while fans know Snart will be joining the Legion of Doom this season, does this hallucination have anything to do with it, or is it a separate issue entirely?

Art imitating life: In a surprise twist, the midseason finale revealed that former captain Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) is alive and well… but hiding out in Los Angeles in 1967, producing a sci-fi movie based on his own life. He’s hiding his accent and pretending to be a moody director, but little does he know that the Legion of Doom is coming after him. Theory time: Does Rip want his team to find him? Is that why he’s making a movie with a time-traveling agent named after him, in the hopes that his team will see his contribution in history and find him and pick him up in 1967? Or is he simply giving up on his mission to save the timeline and trying to make a new life for himself in Hollywood? Either way, he’s going to be pulled back into his old life sooner than he thinks, either by the Legion or his former team. Let’s hope it’s the latter.

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. on Fox; Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on The CW; The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW; Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW; and Legends of Tomorrow airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.