After last night’s totally not related episode of Supergirl, the “Invasion” crossover begins! While this was about as packed as an episode of television can be, I’m trying not to discuss every tiny detail, as Alice and I will be doing an installment of MEDUSA later today. So, check back at 3pm Eastern for that, and read on for my solo thoughts.
1. Mind control is a motherfucker
I know that mind control of heroes is an incredibly old and played out trick (it peaked with the murder of Maxwell Lord in “Trinity”), but the CW probably felt like it “had” to give us a little bit of superhero infighting, because that is what TV and movies do when they get a ton of heroes in the same room. And, to be honest, this wasn’t the worst case of this we’ve seen this year. There was a clear reason for the fighting, and it was resolved in a relatively quick manor.
I do like that the show is essentially making Supergirl more powerful than any of the Earth-1 folks can imagine. Earth-38 is lousy with aliens, but Barry and co. aren’t used to that. You can practically see everyone thinking “wow, I wish we had her when he fought [insert earlier CW villain here].” Too many times, these shows have to struggle for us to believe that the heroes can actually take down the big bad, so it is refreshing to see all the other heroes slackjawed at just how awesome Kara is, and how they really need her for this.
I can also see Cisco being the most popular guy on the superhero block now, with everyone requesting he Vibe them over to Kara’s apartment, both for help with problems, and because she’s amazingly adorable.
2. Barry’s guilt
I know that Barry is supposed to be really struggling with what he did with the Flashpoint timeline, but his guilt is starting to get unbearable. One of the best parts of The Flash was exactly what HR said last week (and, coincidentally, what the Shade said in “The Flash” #11 last Wednesday): Barry’s real superpower is his hope. Well, hope is in short supply here, and it is starting to really drag the show down. At this point, it is probably a season-long problem, but I still am hoping that the back half of the season can be sunnier, because this was bleak, y’all.
3. Told ya it was his daughter!
I called that the visions that Martin Stein was having were not of a new wife, but of a daughter, and I was right! In your face, nobody!
But this sets up an interesting situation for Barry, in particular. Diggle and Stein have gained children due to his actions (well, Diggle sort of traded one for another, but you get my point). If Barry is to undo the timeline at this point (still where I see this going), how will Stein and Diggle react to that? Especially Diggle, who has only ever known a son – how will he deal with saying goodbye to him? Will he and Lyla try to have a second child, and if so, can he ever live up to their “first” son? That’s a terrifying situation.
And for Stein, it is even worse. He never had children – now he has them. How could he possibly give that up? I can’t imagine the conversation that would convince him of that.
The other option is that Barry doesn’t undo the timeline, and this is the new normal. That is actually the ballsier solution, and one that I am increasingly hoping for, even if this emo action is a little much for me. If he and Cisco can bury the hatchet, I’m almost ok with this timeline.
I just want them to stop focusing on it.
4. The Ollie bond
I think I’ve said this before – I’ve probably written close to 50,000 words on these shows, so forgive me for not knowing exactly what I’ve said – but I was incredibly struck this week with how Ollie appears to be the only adult in the room sometimes. I mean, Stein, too, I guess, but no one takes charge like Ollie does. When he talks, everyone shuts up and listens.
Continued belowI especially love Barry’s relationship with Ollie – they really do have a big brother/little brother thing going and, even though Barry can do infinitely more than Ollie can, you get the feeling that if Ollie said “jump,” Barry would ask “how high?”
Ollie opening up about his parents’ deaths and normalizing what Barry did, by saying that he, and anyone else, would have done the same, momentarily snaps Barry out of his malaise and lets him be truly heroic. Granted, there is still a ton of logical flaws in that argument, but Ollie reminds Barry that, while he is special, he’s also your normal son who loves his family. That was really important.
5. Dominators?
I’m sure Alice and I will get to this later on, but the episode did a pretty piss poor job at explaining the Dominators. Sure, we got some old footage of a past attack, we know they’ve abducted in the past, and we see that they can control minds, but there was precious little time spent on them, and a lot of time spent on Wally which, sorry Wally, could’ve waited until next week. Hopefully, tonight’s Arrow can rectify that, though I sincerely doubt it will, as it is the 100th episode spectacular, and is rumored to be bringing back just about every character from the show’s history.
So, what do you guys think? Are the Dominators worthy foes to the CWverse? Is emo Barry finally going away? Let me know in the comments!
