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, Supergirl and Black Lightning and Fox’s Gotham.
Legends of Tomorrow
A new addition | There’s a new team member aboard the Waverider, and she’s not exactly what the Legends are used to. Zari’s (Tala Ashe) life was saved by the Legends in the future dystopian Seattle when a resurrected Kuasa (Tracy Ifcheafor) tried to kill her and take her totem. Because metahumas were illegal in the future (run by a seemingly corrupt militarized ARGUS), Zari unhappily agreed to join the Legends in their crusade to fix time by the end of the episode, only because she had no other options. Coming from a broken future, her background will lead her to butt heads with the team on missions going forward. “I think philosophically she’s different than everyone else,” Ashe told THR along with a small group of reporters. “I think her hacker brain sees a lot of potential in time-traveling, not just in fixing anachronisms but possibly improving things. Having come from this dystopian, broken world of 2042 she has an almost humanitarian tilt to it, which will clash with certain people on the Waverider.”
A surprising connection | But one person she’ll bond with is Amaya (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) because they both possess mystical totems that grant them powers. “It’s still a bit of a mystery, but I know that the totems are what’s bringing them together and what links them to Kuasa, who is also a totem-bearer,” Ashe said. “The connection between the totem-bearers does come to a larger part of the season at a certain point.” Executive producers Marc Guggenheim and Phil Klemmer revealed that Zari’s totem comes directly from the Zambesi totem storyline explored in The CW Seed’s animated series Vixen season two. “Not that it’s required viewing, but if you wanted a sense as to where we’re headed, Vixen season two is what I would check out,” Guggenheim teased. That arc introduced the fire totem, and it’s clear Zari currently possesses an air totem that allows her to fly. Meanwhile, villain Kuasa is able to dissolve into and weaponize water, so she’s using some kind of water totem. Klemmer revealed that an earth totem along with a “mystery totem” will later be introduced this season.
Much-needed female bonding | What’s most exciting about Zari’s addition to the team is the opportunity it brings for some badass female empowerment storylines involving her, Amaya and Sara (Caity Lotz). “Since the beginning of the show we recognized that there was not a lot of estrogen on the bridge of the Waverider,” Guggenheim said. “We really, really wanted to bring on another female character.” Ashe is proud that in most episodes, they’re passing the Bechdel test and promised that some exciting scenes with all three ladies are coming in future episodes.
That ending explained | It was the stinger scene at the end of the episode, however, that delivered the biggest shock of the night as it revealed Ray’s (Brandon Routh) past that looked more than a little familiar as a flashback showed him as a young boy riding his bike away from a group of bullies only to find a friendly extraterrestrial being in the woods. Next week’s episode will continue that storyline and reveal what happened in Ray’s past to make him who he is today. “We’re doing an episode where it’s a send up to the Amblin films of the ‘80s, very Stranger Things,” Guggenheim teased. “It’s a story as Ray Palmer as a young boy befriends an alien, kind of like Elliot in E.T., the twist being the alien he befriends is a baby Dominator. Chaos ensues. It’s crazy. You don’t even know.” Added Klemmer, “There’s a dance number. Someone has sex with — well, not fully, but somebody [tries] with a space alien. And it’s going to be on Halloween, which is perfect.”
Arrow
Only making it worse | Just when it seemed that Diggle (David Ramsey) was getting better, Arrow showed he’s only digging himself into a deeper hole. He’s become the Green Arrow officially and seemed to get his aim back (in a visually stunning callback to the series pilot with shooting arrows through bouncing tennis balls), but he’s actually buying illegal drugs on the black market and injecting himself with a mysterious solution to stop his hand tremors. He’s keeping it a secret from everyone on the team, including Dinah (Juliana Harkavy), who knew about his nerve issues, and whatever he’s doing to himself is not going to end well. What will happen when Oliver (Stephen Amell) and the rest of the team find out their new leader is compromised even worse than they could imagine? Will that be enough to bring Oliver back into the field, despite his promises to his son William (Jack Moore)?
Love is in the air | Speaking of William, after Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) helped tutor Oliver’s son for a math test, it was clear that they got along better than he and Oliver ever had. Oliver’s earlier decision to push Felicity away romantically for the sake of William no longer made sense, and so “Olicity” rekindled their spark and got back together, with Oliver gifting Felicity a key to his apartment. Will this time be forever? All their issues have been resolved and the secrets are out in the open, so if Arrow is finally going there again, it had better stick.
The Flash
The source revealed | Now we know where all these new metahumans are coming from! The Thinker (Neil Sandilands) manipulated a bunch of people to be on the same city bus that would pull up to an intersection right where Barry (Grant Gustin) ran out of the Speed Force, sending a blast of dark matter to wash over the bus riders. Man, The Thinker really is thinking 10 steps ahead of everyone. Team Flash is (inadvertently) once again responsible for creating these metahuman criminals. Oops.
Down one member | What started as one of the most hilarious scenes The Flash has ever done turned into a heartbreaking development when Harry (Tom Cavanagh) breached in from Earth-2 to deliver a “break up cube” from Jesse (Violett Beane) for Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale). The cube then malfunctioned, forcing him to break up with his daughter’s boyfriend himself (seriously awkward and yet wonderful to watch at the same time). Noticeably absent from the episode’s action, Wally revealed to the oblivious team that he had gone to Earth-2 for the whole episode to try and patch things up with Jesse (he ultimately failed). Realizing he wasn’t needed at STAR Labs as well now that Barry was back, Wally announced he was moving to to Blue Valley — aka the comic book home of Wally West and his parents, as well as The Star Spangled Kid and STRIPE. But hey: Why doesn’t he just hop aboard the Waverider on Legends instead? Hopefully The Flash isn’t writing Wally off entirely and instead is going to follow his story to some interesting development elsewhere; otherwise, that would be a huge wasted opportunity. At least in Wally’s absence the team is gaining Harry back, as he decided to stay on Earth-1 now that his daughter kicked him off her superhero team on Earth-2 for being too bossy.
And baby makes three? | In the surprisingly emotional stinger scene, Joe (Jesse L. Martin) learns from Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) that he’s going to be a father (again). But the episode cuts out before viewers see his reaction. Does that cliffhanger mean he’s not excited? Is he upset? What is going through Joe’s mind, and why did The Flash need to keep it a secret for a whole week?
Wait, was that … ? | The Flash dropped some major OMG references in this week’s episode. The first being a casual mention of “Atlantean plastic,” meaning the DC Comics location Atlantis is a place known and talked about in passing (at least by residents of Earth-2). If this leads to some kind of Aquaman storyline that would be downright incredible, but it’s probably just a throwaway Easter egg line meant to excite comic book fans. Another moment that left some heads scratching was an airline pilot that might have been a nod to … real-life pilot Sully? If it wasn’t, that’s quite a big coincidence that this pilot also had to do a water landing after a goose flew into his engine.
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Supergirl
Father’s Day came early | In this week’s episode, Supergirl put the focus on two stories of fathers reuniting with their children. First was Maggie’s (Floriana Lima) absentee, estranged father (24′s Carlos Bernard) who tried to mend fences after kicking out his daughter for being gay when she was just 14. He came to National City for her bridal shower and awkwardly tried to catch up with Maggie but ultimately left angry after seeing her kiss Alex (Chyler Leigh), meaning he still was as homophobic, mean and discriminating as ever. On a happier note, J’onn (David Harewood) reunited with his presumed-dead father Myr’nn (Carl Lumbly) on Mars and saved him from the White Martians. He returned to Earth with J’onn and Kara (Melissa Benoist), and that means more emotional scenes between J’onn and Myr’nn. Watching J’onn be overcome with joy, nostalgia and love for his father was a real treat, and allowed Harewood to open up a new, vulnerable and innocent side to J’onn that has never been seen before.
Red flag | After Maggie’s father left again, Alex inaccurately assumed that the reason Maggie didn’t want to have kids was because of her traumatic upbringing and her own past with her problematic parents. But it turns out that Maggie just simply doesn’t want children, which is totally normal and not something that should or could be “fixed” about her. However, that is a major red flag for “Sanvers,” since Alex clearly does want kids. If a compromise isn’t reached, or one of them can’t concede on the issue, this marriage isn’t going to work. Perhaps that is the ominous reason why Lima is no longer a series regular on Supergirl.
Gotham
Dirty cops | Gotham‘s latest villain is cleaning up the corrupt police force, albeit via lethal means. In a twist from his comic book alter ego, the TV version of Professor Pyg (Michael Cerveris) began killing off cops on Penguin’s (Robin Lord Taylor) payroll. Because of this, Gordon (Ben McKenzie) found out that his BFF Bullock (Donal Logue) was dirty himself, and that resulted in an emotional and heartbreaking confrontation between the two former partners as Bullock recuperated from Pyg’s attack in a hospital bed. What does this mean for their friendship and working relationship moving forward? Can Bullock redeem himself? Will Gordon ever forgive him? Either way, Pyg is still on the loose, so Bullock’s in danger of him finishing the job unless Gordon can find and arrest the pig-obsessed killer first.
Gotham airs Thursdays on Fox. Supergirl airs Mondays, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow air Tuesdays, Arrow airs Thursdays; and Black Lightning will premiere midseason, all on The CW.
