DC TV Recap Round-Up, Issue 2: Adjustment Periods!

23 Oct

Welcome back! Time for another regular (fingers crossed) recap of Supergirl, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow. So let’s start that out with…

“Triggers”

Kara has had some issues to contend with at the start of this season, but a run-in with a psychic bank robber named “Psi” (no, not the one you’re thinking about) reveals a really deep one from her past. Psi brings out an event that really did traumatize her as a child: mainly the destruction of Krypton and being left alone in that capsule. This really messes her up in her first few attempts to stop Psi, but after realizing most of what’s happening is her dealing with panic attacks brought up by that psychic attack (and yes, thinking she doomed Mon-El to a fate not unlike her as a child), Kara manages to take down the psychic baddie. It’s with a headbutt, but still, it works.

Meantime, Lena is making herself known as more of a hands-on boss in the newsroom, much to the irritation of James. And you remember that mysterious single mother we saw last episode? Besides issues with her daughter (you know, the issues involving fighting bullies and thinking your mom has super powers), we learn she is going to be running Lena’s company now, so let’s see where that goes. And just to add some more curious developments, J’Onn gets a psychic message from M’Gann that he’s needed back on Mars immediately!

Maybe wait until the elevator is fully closed before doing that, lest someone think your a massive Supergirl fan, Kara.

—That Alex really doesn’t have to say anything except stare to coerce Winn into snitching on Kara…

—Alex and Maggie have differing views on having kids. This will hopefully not be a sticking point.

—So considering the tension between James and Lena, how long do you think it will be before they hook up?

—“Just remind me to get you a “World’s Best Boss” mug.”

“Mixed Signals”

Barry Allen seems to be back and way happier than ever, which is a good thing, yeah? Well, it would be, but his time away has made him unaware of a few things, and maybe a bit too overconfident. And Iris is having her own issues regarding the last few years of stuff, and drags Barry into couples therapy, where it’s clear she’s not quite over the last few months he was gone in the Speed Force.

As for other non-relationship stuff this episode, Barry and company face off against Kilg%re, a metahuman who can control technology with his mind, and wants revenge against the former associates that wronged him. Kilg%re finds a new instrument in revenge when he gets control of Barry’s new Cisco-augmented Flash suit, with Barry still in it! The good news is, the team is able to save Barry and imprison Kilg%re before that revenge can be carried out. The bad news: that mystery guy in the chair wanted Kilg%re imprisoned, and is waiting for a few more specific people to be locked up before he starts his big mystery plan!

Good to know if Barry ever gains major weight, that supersuit is adjustable.

—Apparently the maker of Oliver Queen’s former loft on Arrow designed the exact same one in another city!

—Barry and Iris discussing their history in the show to a shrink makes you realize a ton of horrifying stuff has happened between them.

—A funny connection to that week’s Arrow, with that headline regarding Oliver Queen being exposed as the Green Arrow.

—“Oh, Jon Snow’s dead. Oh wait, he’s alive!”

—“It’s like he doesn’t know he’s a dead man.”

“Freakshow”

With our team of heroes back together, they are off to solve some of the “anachronisms” they caused from breaking time, leading to their first case: investigating an anachronism in 1870 in a circus run by P.T. Barnum! That anachronism happens to be a sabertooth tiger, which is made larger by accident, because, well someone’s shrink ray had the opposite effect (we’re all looking at you, Ray). Sara thinks this is a good time to find and bring Amaya back into the fold to help, and that can’t help but cause some tension since she left her relationship with Nathan so abruptly. True to form, our team screws up, or a very drunk Nathan in this case, and reveals his superpower to Barnum, who thinks he’s found a new oddity for his circus. Or more to the point, his drinking buddies, Jax and Ray!

Thanks to the Legends’ incompetence, things get a lot worse before it gets better, with the Time Bureau spying on them, that sabertooth tiger running loose on the Waverider, and more members of the team finding themselves getting caught by Barnum for his circus. Thanks to Stein playing circus clown, plus Amaya seeming not completely in control of her powers anymore, everything goes back to relative normal. Except the Team is now aware of some threat that Rip thinks only they might handle, but what is it beside being called Mallus? Whatever it is, it can resurrect people from the water or something, so that can’t be good.

You need to catch a break while trying to fix and screwing up time.

—Victor Garber gets to make a joke about the designer of the Titanic, who he played in the James Cameron mega blockbuster of the same name. Speaking of Titanic, we got Billy Zane as P.T. Barnum.

—So that weird tension with Sara and Agent Sharp is going to pay off, isn’t it?

—Speaking of people having bad days: Agent Gary. He really needs a vacation after all of that.

—Mick Rory really is weirded out by clowns. We all got our weaknesses.

—“Die, clown!”

NEXT TIME: Supergirl goes to Mars, The Flash hits a metahuman streak of bad luck, and the Legends get a new recruit.