
Speedy Synopses:
Gotham 1x16: The Blind Fortune Teller
Jim and Lee's date to the circus—to watch the Flying Graysons, among other acts—is cut short by a fight between a clown and an acrobat. The disturbance leads to the discovery of a distraught son (with particularly red hair and an interesting smile) and a dead snake charmer, who got more than a little friendly with a number of the circus' performers, including the acrobat and the clown. Jim's investigation reveals a Montague and Capulet style feud between the Graysons and the other acrobat family, and an on-the-rocks love between two of the younger members of the families. When the circus' psychic pays Jim a visit to give him a message, Jim doesn't take him seriously, but Lee presses him to follow it up. The two find a piece of evidence that isn't what it seems, but Jim puts the pieces together and realizes that the distraught son is the murder, and the psychic, his secret father. The son isn't as distraught as he seemed to be in the beginning, and is even somewhat gleeful about getting rid of his "whore" of a mother. On a more cheerful note, Jim's case did bring the two young lovers back together, and they even talked about having a son ...
In the body part prison, Fish brought her people together and took a stand against the guards. Said stand involved a man being beaten to death, but Fish certainly made her point, and, at the end of the episode, was off to see The Manager, whoever that might be.
Additionally: Oswald, who's having an awful time running Fish's club, is payed a visit by Zsasz and a (supposedly) brainwashed Butch; Bruce makes a power play with the Wayne Enterprises board of directors; and Barbara returns to the penthouse and gets fashion advice from Poison Ivy and Catwoman Ivy and Selina (which was all for naught, since Babs' visit to see Jim was cut short when she walked in on Jim and Lee kissing in the locker room). (Mandy C.)
Agent Carter 1x7: Snafu
In the penultimate episode of Agent Carter's season (hopefully not series), all the plot chickens come home to roost, as both sides (SSR and Leviathan) are primed for what will be a wall-to-wall confrontation (on that note: oh damn, Carter and Dottie are going to be a barn-burner!). But first, a quick second for Chief Dooley. You were a cypher who tried to fill in the world-building blanks, but none of your Battle of Finow solo adventures really did pay off. In the end, you were sacrificed on the altar of of elevated stakes, but not after an implanted Norman Rockwell-esqe hallucination induced by Dr. Ivchenko got us to care more about you. Thank you for finally acknowledging Carter before jumping out of the SSR building before the prototype armor blew up everybody else.
From the three-way interrogation by Sousa, Thompson, and Dooley at the top of the episode, to Jarvis catching verbal fire, to finally offering up the truth on what happened on The Heartbreak, Carter was at her gahtdamn admonishing best. Saying what we were thinking this whole time, Carter spits hot fire on the whole goddamn system of bullshit gender roles at the SSR (and the way Jarvis portrays her in his falsified Howard Stark confession). Carter put it best on why she was running a side operation behind the SSR's back, that unless she had the men's “Reports, coffee, or lunch, I'm invisible."
Upon spying on Ivchenko's morse code communiques with Dottie, Carter convinces Thompson and Sousa to check out the adjacent building right before a compromised Dooley locks up Carter and Jarvis. He then makes off with Invention 17 for Ivchenko, who makes a break for it with Dottie. At the end of the episode we find out that Invention 17 is a chemical weapon which fills people with the kind of rage that makes them beat each other to death, as Dottie and Ivchenko disperse it into a (not so crowded) movie theater.
Next week's episode is going to be a slobberknocker, alright. (Paolo S.)
The Flash 1x14: Fallout
We pick up right where we left off at the end of last week; post-mushroom cloud. Ronnie and Dr. Stein have successfully split and without leaving a trace of radiation. Team Flash runs all of the tests and, besides a slightly elevated body temperature, both men seem to be fine. Throughout the episode they realize that they still possess a psychic link to each other and Dr. Stein has a newfound passion for pizza (ha!). This link comes in handy after the Evil General Eiling manipulates Dr. Wells into handing over Dr. Stein; he wants F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. as his ultimate military weapon. Ronnie is able to locate Dr. Stein using a pen knife (OUCH) and Morse code, and Barry swoops in to save the day.
Joe fills Barry in on the work he and Cisco did at his parents’ old house; he shows him the mirror imagery and tells him about the blood that's been shown to belong to Grown-Up Barry. When Barry realizes that this smacks of all things Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey he goes to Dr. Stein who confirms that Future Barry must be able to run fast enough to travel through time. Barry is burdened with the knowledge that he failed to save his mother and is determined that he won’t let that happen again. (Sidenote: if saving his mother means that another parent/foster parent has to die I may need a large bottle of tequila and a support group.) Joe and Barry continue to own my heart as they have another father/son bonding moment; Joe is worried that this new info is too much for Barry to bear, telling him that he’s also his emotional guardian. YOU GUYS..!
At the paper, Mr. Pulitzer himself tries to butter up Iris with a danish (really? JUST a danish?) in order to get her to research the Star Labs explosion; he believes all is not as it seems. When Iris meets Not-Ronnie later on (Caitlyn is passing him off as her cousin) she eventually puts two and two together while flipping through her files and seeing his flame-y face post-explosion. Pitting Iris against Team Flash (even unknowingly) isn’t going to do much to warm up an already lukewarm fanbase so hopefully this will all be resolved SOON.
Oh Dr. Wells. This tangled web of yours that you’ve woven and I have a love/hate relationship. You sold out Stein to protect Barry BUT you also saved Ronnie and Stein by sacrificing your quantum splicer so that they can merge/separate at will. I’d like to think that you did that for Caitlyn. You also took General Eiling down to the sewers AS REVERSE FLASH and handed him over to a certain large gorilla with a vendetta. Respect.
Caitlyn says to goodbye to Ronnie; he and Martin have to leave Central City to get ahead of the military. Too bad they don’t know about the gorilla in the sewer. It’s not the last we’ll see of FIRESTORM and it’s nice to see that Caitlyn has built a life and family for herself that keeps her firmly rooted in Ronnie’s absence.
Seriously y’all - I hope next years is the SEASON OF GRODD!
Arrow 3x14: The Return
Is it just me or was that episode about 75% flashback? Not that I’m complaining, even if Oliver’s flashback wig was at new levels of TERRIBAD. The flashback scenes juxtaposed nicely with where everyone was then and where they are now. Oliver had to go back to Starling City in pursuit of China White under Amanda Waller’s orders. He was told not to engage with anyone he knew ,so of course he did the exact opposite.
We see a struggling Thea, a otherwise occupied (absent) Moira, a drunk, grieving Quentin, a fraternal Tommy and a visiting Laurel. Seeing how his “death” has affected the people he loves tears Oliver up, even as he witnesses Tommy trying to keep Thea from ruining her life with drugs and recklessness. The glimpses of newly-employed security guard John Diggle (lolz) and his brother (sad pants) as well as a snooping Felicity Smoak brought the smiles this week.
In present day Thea and Oliver are sent to Lian Yu in order to train for their eventual battle against Ra’s. It was never going to be that simple though, not with Merlyn pulling the strings. He’s released Slade from the underground bunker. Thea Queen holds her own and even lets Slade live; Oliver does not want his sister to go down the same dark path he did. She shows amazing strength of character, especially considering that she finally wore Oliver down to admitting that he knows who killed Sara, and that it was Thea. I foresee Roy helping her get through this as he knows a little something about unintentionally murdering innocent people. Thea wants to tell Laurel; she’s sick of secrets but Oliver convinces her that this is not the way to go. Again, the paternalism with Laurel has GOT TO STOP ALREADY. She’s a grown woman, she will understand and she will support your fight against Ra’s and eventually Merlyn, damn!
Back in Starling a grieving Det. Lance is taking out his anger on Laurel. She finds him at Sara’s grave holding an unopened bottle of booze. It’s ugly and cruel and I hope the addict in him shuts the hell up after going to a couple of meetings. There was no easy way for her to tell you, dude and she’s been carrying that burden around for WEEKS. Have some compassion for your last living child already.
Flashback Oliver wants to stay in Starling (obvs) and Amanda Waller assures him that once they debrief him back in China he’s free to go. For some reason, he believes her.
Hero of the Week: Chief Dooley, Agent Carter
You weren’t a bad guy, Chief Dooley. You weren’t even the meatiest of all of the meatheads in your office. You were a damn good sleuth and, it turns out, a sad man who really missed his life at home with his wife and kids. In the end you did what had to be done for the greater good and admitted that you never really did right by Peggy Carter. A man who can admit that as he gets ready to plummet to his fiery death is a hero in my book.
Villain of the Week: Malcolm Merlyn, Arrow
This week was really tough. So many people making such terrible, selfish decisions but I’m pretty sure that trying to justify to your daughter why you drugged her into murdering her friend can’t be topped. Malcolm Merlyn, you never let us down with your new levels of scumbaggery.
Troy Barnes Award for Evoking The Feelz:
We all cried here, right? I mean, if you didn’t at least well up you may want to check that your heart is still actually IN your chest.
Ab-tastic:
Serious lack of abs this week. It will not stand! I know that DC released that Jason Momoa Aquaman pic (see below) BUT STILL.
Right in the Kisser:
Jim and Lee continue their smoochfest much to the chagrin of Barbara who catches them in the act on her way to make amends with Jim. Anyone else find it totally bizarre that Jim is all, “Sure, you can definitely come along on confidential police business and sit in with confidential interviews!” I’m not sure about Lee. I’m pretty sure that Morena Baccarin deserves a better show though.
No romance this week on Agent Carter, unless you count the scales dropping from every man’s eyes that works in Peggy’s office. Thankfully Sousa comes round in the end and believes Peggy’s full confession; hopefully trust can be rebuilt there.
Caitlyn is SO happy to have Ronnie back and safely separated from Dr. Stein. The world has changed a lot in a year and Ronnie wants them to leave Central City and start over. Caitlyn absolutely does not and when she has to say goodbye to Ronnie at the end for his own safety, it’s bittersweet but we know it’s not forever. She’s established a life for herself full of purpose and meaning outside of Ronnie and now they have to make room for each other in a different way than they did pre-explosion.
Biff! Bam! Pow!
courtesy of marysuepoots/tumblr.com
Comic Pages:
Pick of the Week: Bitch Planet #3, written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, illustrated by Robert Wilson IV
It's no secret that I am IN LOVE with this comic. I am ready to put a ring on it, and if that means getting over my fear of being repeatedly jabbed with a needle full of ink and getting a NC (non-compliant) tattoo to show my devotion than...I am almost very nearly ready to do that!
This issue is devoted to the biggest, baddest, softest mama on BP, Penny Rolle. We see Penny grow up with her loving grandma only to be taken away for reasons never really explained. The Fathers (Big Brother) complain that she is too fat, too loud, just TOO MUCH and she needs to COMPLY. She tries her best, even owning her own bakery but there's only so much asshattery Penny can take. Thank you, Kelly Sue, for writing a story that every girl who felt that she was too fat (or too black, or too loud, or whose hair was not straight enough) to be loved for writing this book because it's clear that WE are not the problem.
-A diversity win with Silk, the newest Asian-American hero to get her own book! Silk #1 came out this past Wednesday and it features Cindy Moon, a young woman bitten by the same spider as Peter Parker (gaining the same powers) and isolated from the world for the better part of a decade. She struggles being around others and is coming to terms with her new identity as a hero, as well as being a reporter for the Daily Bugle in the hopes it will aid her in finding her missing family.
-Invader Zim is going to be a comic! ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM!
-Finalists for the Dwayne McDuffie Award (celebrating diversity in comics) include Shaft and Ms. Marvel, which should be enough to tell you to check out the whole list of finalists.
News and Notes:
-Steven Spielberg would like to continue his tradition of directing ALL of the Indiana Jones movies, thanks very much.
-Remember when that ass-kicking 11-yr old girl wrote DC Comics last month frustrated about the lack of relatable girl heroes and the ridiculousness of gendered toys? DC has turned her into an actual hero!
ADORABLE.
-DC’s Lucifer has been picked up for a pilot while its Constantine continues to be on the struggle.
-ICYMI (and really, how could you miss it): First pic of Jason Momoa as Aquaman released, sets everyone’s panties on fire:
OH HI THERE.
-Three actors have been added to the cast of Jessica Jones, including a hottie vampire from The Originals. NICE.
-Kodi Smit-McPhee has been cast to play a young Nightcrawler in X-Men: Apocalypse. Geez, how big is this cast going to get??
Give me your thoughts, y'all! Has Gotham gotten too ridiculous for words? Are you sort of crushing on Black Widow Dottie Underwood but ashamed to admit it? How many of you are worried for Barry's OTHER parents now that he's determined to save his mom?