hawkins_saints_rock Reviews

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Shattered (2020) Season 7, Episode 11

"Yes, Lord Sidious"

[10/10 · 1 May 2020]

Again this show backs up its past two episodes with another absolutely perfect installment. This episode has such an intense feel right from the beginning and throughout, with us all knowing what's about to happen but desperate to find out when and how.

The emotions are extremely high, with Maul and Ahsoka reacting to Anakin's fall to the dark side, Rex trying to fight his programming, and the overall nature of Order 66.

Can't wait to see how they wrap it all up. My only request is that we get to see Vader in action before his fight with Obi-wan, even if it's just for a moment.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Phantom Apprentice (2020) Season 7, Episode 10

Utter Brilliance

[10/10 · 24 April 2020]

For two weeks in a row this show has delivered its best episode ever. There is nothing not to like in this episode, from the fights between the clones and mandalorians, to the alignment with Revenge of the Sith, to Maul and Ahsoka's battle...honestly I could go on and on and list every scene of the whole episode.

Seeing how everything is linking in to Revenge of the Sith is completely brilliant, and Maul revealing Anakin's fall to the dark side to Ahsoka brought me goosebumps.

Can't wait for the final two episodes.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: On the Wings of Keeradaks (2020) Season 7, Episode 3

Solid episode but hope this isn't a glimpse of things to come

[8/10 · 6 March 2020]

This was a really fun episode and I think we can officially say that the Bad Batch have been a success. The action scenes were great and seeing Anakin dominate in that final battle was beautiful!

However, there is a glaring issue with this episode that I hope doesn't set the path for future episodes in this final season. The issue being the complete removal of a "dark" death scene which, in the unfinished version, occurs right before Anakin and the clones escape Tambor's weapon.

So this season is supposedly going to tackle some big clone wars arcs (eg. order 66), and I hope the just because this is on Disney + that any potential darker/violent scenes don't get removed to appease the younger viewers. Especially when a significant portion of the viewership is 17+ in age.

The Flash: Into the Void (2019) Season 6, Episode 1

The Flash must die

[8/10 · 10 October 2019]

And so we're back for another season, one in which I have very much been looking forward to with Crisis on Infinite Earth's imminent.

This show has never really hit it out of the park, so to speak, when it comes to season premieres, but they have been consistent especially in seasons 1-3. This seasons premiere fits in with that and is on par, if not slightly better than the premieres from the first three seasons.

This weeks "villain" wasn't anything too special, but The Flash vs. a black hole was cool to watch. The highlight of the episode was Ramsey Rosso's transformation into Bloodwork, who seems to be the villain of the first half of the season until we come across either Red Death or Godspeed.

The monitors appearance officially kicks of the Crisis on Infinite Earth's countdown, with Barry now aware his disappearance has been moved up to December 2019.

8.5/10

Supergirl: Elseworlds, Part 3 (2018) Season 4, Episode 9

TV's Justice League

[10/10 · 12 December 2018]

Over the 7 years the arrowverse has been running, this crossover has truely been the closest we have been to Justice League. Across the 3 nights we have seen Superman, Supergirl, Green Arrow, The Flash, Batwoman, Martian Manhunter and many more DC heroes fight alongside each other. Pure awesomeness.

Anyway there's not much I can say in this review that I haven't said in my part 1 and 2 reviews. The humour, action and drama was just as good tonight as it was the previous two. So I'm just gonna leave it with a question. What did Oliver promise The Monitor? We know the next years crossover will finally be Crisis on Infinite Earths, and no doubt we'll find out what he promised in that crossover. But just of what magnitude is this promise? I'm betting on something big that will change the Arrowverse forever.

10/10

The Flash: Elseworlds, Part 1 (2018) Season 5, Episode 9

Freaky Friday

[10/10 · 11 December 2018]

I look forward to these crossovers every year, they are so awesome and most of the time end up being the best week for these CW shows out of the whole year. Tonight's opening did not disappoint! We got humour, drama, action and romance. It was so much fun.

The humour during the first half of the episode was absolutely priceless. Barry freaking out over the thought of Oliver and Iris in the same bed. Cisco telling Oliver off for saying "You have failed this city in the Flash suit". And Barry shooting Oliver in the back as payback was just way too good.

As a big fan of Young Justice it was great to see Amazo get his run as a villain. Across all of the DC related shows that Amazo has been on, he always bring great action fight scenes, and this episode was no exception. The fight scene between Amazo and the CW Justice League was so awesome that I've watched that fight scene alone 3 times.

Bring on Gotham City!

10/10

Arrow: Elseworlds, Part 2 (2018) Season 7, Episode 9

Crisis on Infinite Earths officially name dropped

[10/10 · 11 December 2018]

As a major Batman fan this was everything I could've hoped for in a crossover without actually bringing in the man himself. Seeing Arkham Asylum was so awesome and then having Green Arrow vs. Flash battle inside while effected by Scarecrows fear gas had me major fanboying. I enjoyed Ruby Rose as Batwoman but wish she had done a bit more, the writers didn't give her enough to do.

Just like last night the humour was great! Seeing Oliver and Barry go back and forth with petty jabs at each other was hilarious. We also get John Wesley Shipp back as his very own 1990 version of The Flash. While it was only for a minute, it was good to see that 1990 Flash became canonised.

On to the plot...as expected our heroes don't stop the big bad in this part, and in fact reality gets broken even more. Barry and Oliver are now wanted men and no longer have powers. I've got no idea how they are gonna turn this around from here. Will the rest of Team Arrow and Team Flash remember everything that has happened over these first two parts? Keen to find out tomorrow.

Now what I want to get to quickly...The Monitor officially teased the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline. He told Barry, Oliver and Kara that he is "preparing" and "testing" this earth for an "incoming crisis". To me this sets up Crisis on Infinite Earths as the crossover event for next season. And oh my god how awesome would that be!

10/10

The Flash: What's Past Is Prologue (2018) Season 5, Episode 8

Time for a villain change

[10/10 · 6 December 2018]

What an incredible episode! I always expected a high quality episode being the 100th of the series (quite an accomplishment by the way), but I never expected it to be this awesome!

In order to stop Cicada, Barry and Nora go back in time and have interactions with all the previous seasons. Savitar, Zoom, and of course, Thawne; the star of the episode.

The best parts of this episode were the interactions between Nora and Thawne, and these moments felt too big to just be a one off. In fact, we find out at the end that it seems like Nora has been working with Thawne somehow. So please, please, please Flash writers, make Thawne the main villain of this season. I have enjoyed Cicada, but there's no denying that this seems like the perfect time to reintroduce Tom Cavanagh's Eobard Thawne for his second stint as the main villain. I thoroughly believe that if they go down this route, the back half of this season will rival both season 1 and 2.

Oh and P.S - Tom Cavanagh is awesome. Sherloque, Harry, Thawne and Dr Harrison Wells portrayed to perfection all in the one episode. Amazing.

10/10

The Flash: Nora (2018) Season 5, Episode 1

Best season opener of any Flash season

[9/10 · 11 October 2018]

Annnnddd we're back for another season! As always I was excited for the Flash to come back, and that excitement wasn't let down after a pretty great episode. Now The Flash has never had an "incredible" season opener in its five tries, but this episode was pretty close and in my opinion is the best starter episode to a season of the Flash we've ever had. And that was desperately needed after the disappointment of Season 4.

Nora is a great addition to the show, as I really like her character and the chemistry she had with Barry was great. Their scenes together are a particular highlight of this episode. Nora seemed to have an issue with Iris, which I'm not a fan of and don't want this to develop into a mother/daughter drama that is around all season long.

They finally look like they're going to tackle the "Flash missing vanishes in crisis" storyline that we've seen on the newspaper since season one. We learn that since gone missing, Barry has not returned to CC in 25 years! What happened? Can't wait to find out.

At the end we get a glimpse of what could potentially be the main villain. Interested to see more of this character.

And now the suit. I love the colour and the material. But the chin strap needs to be back ASAP.

Overall a really good start to Season 5, fingers crossed it continues.

Oh btw where's Tom Cavanagh??

9/10

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Everything we could've hoped for

[10/10 · 25 April 2018]

Oh. My. God. What an incredible film! I've never done a review of a movie before, I've only done TV shows. So bare with me, I'm gonna discuss the major points and chuck in a theory or two. But to start off...

Wow. This film could be the best Marvel movie ever! But I will give it a few days to digest and probably a second viewing before deciding on that. It absolutely lived up to the 10 year build up since Iron Man 1, how far we've come in a quick 10 years is remarkable.

The Thanos character absolutely hit the mark. He was menacing, intimidating, vicious and so much more. Props to the actor who played him. Thanos' plan succeeds (for the time being) and we get a whole lot of "death" because of it. In this movie there was death, and "death". The former refers to characters such as Loki, Vision and Gamora. We saw these characters die and there bodies be left behind. For this movie not to lose credibility, these characters, in my opinion, must remain dead. Now "death" refers to what we saw at the end, Thanos, with all infinity stones, clicked his fingers and half of humanity, including half of the avengers (important to note that all the original avengers are still alive) dissolved into dust giving the impression of death. I expect these characters to come back at some point during the next Avengers film, most likely due to the originals saving them.

My final theory regards Doctor Strange. On the ship with Stark and Spidey, Strange said that if it came to it he would save his stone over Stark and Spidey's lives. However, in the end we see Strange give up the stone to Thanos on the condition Stark stay alive. My prediction is that when Strange saw all the possible futures, the only future in which they win must heavily rely on Tony Stark. Which makes sense, Tony started it all so he should finish it.

Incredible film, can't wait for the next one to see how it all resolves.

9.8/10

The Flash: Run, Iris, Run (2018) Season 4, Episode 16

Time for a change in command...

[6/10 · 16 March 2018]

So I've been on a bit of a hiatus in regards to reviewing the DC shows, but after watching this weeks Flash episode I felt compelled to give my thoughts. I'm not going to give a rundown of the episode per se, but just my thoughts about the obvious controversial points.

So this week we saw Iris inherit Barry's powers temporarily while Barry was demoted back to regular human. I must admit that for the most part, it was pretty cool seeing Iris as a speedster and I loved the purple lightening. It was also good to see Iris struggle in her first speedster outing, resulting in Cisco saving her from death. I was so worried that with how pro-Iris this season has been that they'd make her better and faster than Barry. Thank God they didn't! And her inexperienced showed in that scene, which I appreciated.

Now to the negatives. I'm sick and tired of having Iris be the leader of Team Flash when she literally has the least credentials of the whole group. I like Iris, but hearing her say "I'm the leader of this team" and Barry say to Iris "You're the boss" were HUGE negatives. Why is she always the one that comes up with the solutions? And why does she get to be the leader of BARRYS TEAM????? I think for Season 5, the writers finally have to embrace Barry as the leader of Team Flash, let him call the shots because it is what this show desperately needs. Iris is at her best when she's the teams media connection (through the newspaper), and they should return back to that.

Now the real star of this episode is Tom Cavanagh as Harry. His storyline of creating the thinking cap made this a good episode to watch, not great, good. I loved how we got to see how DeVoe is affecting Harry. Harry is used to being the smart one, so he's taking DeVoe's presence as the super intelligent villain very personally. And I love it. The scenes between Harry and Cisco added towards the positivity of this side arc.

This was a decent episode, but it's time for Barry to take control of Team Flash. Enough leader Iris. 6.4/10

The Flash: Don't Run (2017) Season 4, Episode 9

The New Thinker

[10/10 · 6 December 2017]

Wow what a great episode of The Flash with some huge season defining moments. With the two big things that happened in this episode, I'm gonna try and keep my review of the whole episode brief, and focus more on the impact of the final few minutes.

So the episode surrounds two members of Team Flash being captured. Caitlin by Amunet Black, and Barry by DeVoe. Black takes Caitlin in order for her to perform surgery on one of her new metas (Dominic) as she has a respective buyer, which continues her plot from earlier in the season. Dominic, who at first seems like a small character, turns out to be one of the biggest characters of this season. His meta powers involve telepathy so he can hear what people are thinking when they are at a close distance. In the end both Caitlin and Dominic manage escape Black thanks to a tricky plan and Dominic's powers.

Barry on the other hand was taken off the streets by DeVoe and brought to his lair. Where is his lair by the way? Obviously it's somewhere at his house, is it underground? Anyway this capture leads to some great dialogue between Barry and DeVoe, and more importantly, between Barry and DeVoe's wife (the Mechanic). From the conversation these two had I'm starting to believe that she will be one of the reasons Team Flash defeat DeVoe, as I'm not 100% convinced that she's on-board with his plan. In the end, Barry escapes as he fools DeVoe by vibrating so fast that he was invisible (so awesome).

The final 5 minutes involve Team Flash and the new meta Dominic, celebrating Xmas. But this is where it gets intense. Barry gets paged back to his apartment for some expected wedding gifts, where he receives a call from Dominic who is actually DeVoe! DeVoe explains that as it turns out he was the buyer Black mentioned earlier in the episode, and thanks to Dominic's powers, it allowed DeVoe to transfer his mind and consciousness into Dominic's body therefore solving the problem of his body dying before his mind could execute his plan. I don't think anyone saw this coming. What do I think of this surprise? Right now, I'm not sure, but it was executed to near perfection. I was getting used to Neil Sandilands performance as The Thinker and really started to appreciate how good his acting was. So for him to potentially be done for the season is a little disappointing. However, Kendrick Sampson put together one hell of a performance as Dominic and DeVoe. That phone call to Barry was absolutely chilling. Will this body swap be permanent? Well that leads me to the mid season finale cliffhanger...

When Barry arrives back at his apartment and is on the phone to "Dominic", we find out that he has planted Clifford DeVoe's dead body in the apartment with a bloody knife next to him that had Barry's fingerprints on it. The knife itself was a wedding gift from DeVoe to Barry that we saw earlier in the episode. So the execution of that plan was absolutely Brilliant. Police show up at Barry's house in which is one of the most powerful scenes the Flash has ever had. As the police breach the front door we see Barry standing there thinking in superspeed as to whether to remove DeVoe's body (which he easily could have done). However, Barry stays put and utters two simple words..."Don't run". A very powerful scene which results in Barry's arrest for the "murder" of Clifford DeVoe.

So a massive ending to this mid season finale that will obviously have massive consequences for the rest of the season. Will we see the actual Clifford DeVoe back? How long will Barry be in prison if at all? Will we have a courthouse episode? Will the mid season premier pick up directly after the finale or will it be real time and it's been a month since Barry's arrest? There are so many questions and that to me is indicative of a great mid season finale.

9.5/10

DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Crisis on Earth-X, Part 4 (2017) Season 3, Episode 8

An emotional ride

[10/10 · 30 November 2017]

I said it in the part 1 review, and I'll say it again. What an incredible two nights of TV! For me this crossover was everything I was hoping for and more. This review will be a little longer than my other ones, as I will review part 4 and then the crossover as a whole (will try to keep brief).

So we start right where part 3 finished, Stein has been shot. He is alive but badly bleeding and hobbles his way to turning on the breach, and while doing so is shot again. So the heroes escape Earth X and Stein + Jax merge to keep him alive. Right before this we also get an epic Barry and Ray (Earth X) team up to stop Red Tornado, some incredible CGI for a low budget network in that scene.

On earth 1, Ray, Nate, Amaya and Zari show up to help Kara and the heroes trapped in the pipeline. Seeing small Ray stopping Thawne's knife going into Kara was so awesome and funny. We then get an awesome scene of each Oliver threatening to kill the other ones love, which ends in a stand off as RF comes along and grabs his two then leaves, as we learn that Jax is also dieing because of his connection with Stein.

All heroes then go on the waverider for a team meeting of sorts. And oh man it was so cool seeing all the heroes from all the shows on the waverider together, so awesome. It is at this stage that we learn that evil Kara is a bomb because of her condition. She is set to go supernova. And right before we get our massive endgame fight scene, we get probably the most emotional scene in the 6 years of the Arrowverse ever. It's hard to put into words just how emotional watching Stein beg Jax to let him take the vile to split their DNA, which would kill him. Both were in tears (me too) as Jax barely had the strength and will to hand Stein the vile. To make this scene even more emotional, the talk about fatherhood was hauntingly beautiful. I must commend both Victor Garber and Franz Drameh on their incredible performances during this scene.

Then finally, the fight scene. What an incredible fight it was. It had everything that it needed to and more, with Barry and Thawne facing off super speed style, Kara vs. Kara in the air, and Oliver vs. Oliver on the ground, as well as the other heroes tearing through Nazi's. It was honestly so fun to watch. In the end evil Kara explodes at a safe distance, Oliver kills his evil doppelgänger, and Barry beats Thawne but let's him go. It was also fitting to once again see Barry's struggle of the "do I" vs "don't I" of killing Thawne.

The episode ends with firstly, Snart saying he's sticking around on Earth 1 (back on Legends??). Secondly, another extremely emotional scene with Stein's funeral and Jax's speech. And finally, the marriage of both Barry and Iris, and Oliver and Felicity. A fitting end to an incredible crossover.

10/10

OK so for my brief overall thoughts on the crossover. As you can already tell I had an absolute blast watching this years crossover, as I found it even better than last years. I think where it improves on last years crossover is the villains. Sure the dominators were cool but they had no substance and dialogue to them. So having the villains be evil versions of our heroes (+ Thawne = awesome) was sooo much better as it allowed for great interactions between the heroes and villains, and we even had scenes of just the villains, something that was missing from last years crossover. If I'm forced to say something negative about the crossover (and I'm being really knitpicky here), it would be that the Oliver/Felicity drama went on too long. But it got resolved the correct way in the end. Hoping for another crossover in the back half of the season, whether it's Flash/Supergirl or Flash/Arrow (would much rather Arrow). But if not it was a hell of a ride. Can't wait til next years.

10/10

The Flash: Crisis on Earth-X, Part 3 (2017) Season 4, Episode 8

The Build Up

[10/10 · 29 November 2017]

This part of the crossover was somewhat different to part 1 & 2, but that doesn't mean that it still wasn't pure awesome. This part focused on the build up to the final showdown to be done in part 4. As a result there was less action in this episode but more drama and emotion. And it worked very well.

We start off with the imprisoned heroes on Earth X being sent off to be executed by none other than the evil Earth X version of Quintin Lance, for them to be saved by the Earth X version of Leonard Snart! Seeing these two actors portray such different versions of the characters we've come to know and love was a highlight of this episode for me. Who knew that Lance could be so dark while Snart could be so caring?!

On earth 1 the Earth X trinity put their plan in motion to transfer Kara's heart into her evil doppelgänger's. While Iris and Felicity try to save Kara and free the rest of the heroes stuck in the pipeline. Throughout this part of the storyline we see a lot of interactions between Kara and evil Kara, and I've gotta say I was very impressed with Melissa Benoist's acting. Never did I think she had what it takes to play the bad guy, but I was very wrong, she's done a great job portraying both roles.

The final 15 minutes of the episode is where the real fun is had. The heroes on Earth X learn that the breach to their earth is heavily guarded by the Nazi's, which leads to an elaborate plan to get through the guarded area. It starts with Oliver dressing up as his evil doppelgänger and getting into the facility, where eventually his cover is blown and he kicks some Nazi a*s. We also get a great scene with Barry and an Earth X hero (who is he meant to be? Doctor fate?) attempting to take down Red Tornado who is there to blow up the facility which would destroy the breach. There was some great CGI action in the sequence.

But the big moment of the episode comes right at the end. Firestorm is tearing their way through the facility when they split up so they can each do a job to open the breach. Jax completes his portion of the job, but before Stein can complete his, he is shot and seemingly killed by a Nazi, and the episode ends there. This felt incredibly emotional especially with the father-son dialogue we've had between Stein and Jax across the crossover. Now for a lot of people this "death" may seem insignificant because part 4 of the crossover came on straight after, so they're able to find out what happens and if Stein did in fact die straight away. However for me, I wasn't able to watch part 4 live. So this death of Stein has taken a real emotional toll on me, and I really hope it's not the end of Stein. Shall find out very soon.

10/10

Supergirl: Crisis on Earth-X, Part 1 (2017) Season 3, Episode 8

Wedding Crashers

[10/10 · 29 November 2017]

What an incredible night of TV! The first half of the crossover event was a major success, they absolutely killed it. Will try and keep this review short and focused on part 1 of the event.

So we open on Earth X and see evil Oliver taking down a band of rebels led by Guardian. Was so happy to see Guardian, even though it was brief, I really do miss James as Guardian on Supergirl. So right from the get go we see our crossover threat. The next few scenes are extremely funny, as the characters from Supergirl, Arrow, and Legends talk about going to Barry and Iris' wedding while fighting bad guys. I especially loved seeing Oliver fight Ninjas while telling Felicity that of course they were attending.

So yes, this part of the crossover was centred around the Barry-Iris wedding, so all the characters whether it be from alternate earth or different time period, make it to Central City 2017. All the character interactions in these scenes (specifically the rehearsal dinner) are so much fun. We see Alex and Sarah get friendly, if you know what I mean...Mick and Caitlin have a few moments together as fire and ice, and Harry + Cisco give Jax and Stein a cure for firestorm however Jax doesn't seem on board any more...

Next we get the wedding, and what a beautiful wedding it was. It was very emotional and was just a happy time...up until the Earth X villains crash the party. This led to probably the greatest fight scene in DCTV history, it was pure awesomeness. From Cisco breaching Oliver up the stairs, to Wally catching a bullet and throwing it back into the gun barrel! There were just so many awesome combos in this fight scene, it was handled perfectly.

The episode ends with the capture of Prometheus, who's identity I will mention in my part 2 review, and with the Reverse Flash going off at Evil Oliver and Kara for trying to take down the heroes too soon. And of course, Reverse Flash is none other than Tom Cavanagh. Absolutely loved seeing him back in the suit, not that I didn't like the other Eobard Thawne, but man there's just something about Cavanagh that I love!

An extremely entertaining part 1, matched by part 2...

10/10

Arrow: Crisis on Earth-X, Part 2 (2017) Season 6, Episode 8

Pure awesomeness

[10/10 · 29 November 2017]

Just like part 1, part 2 was completely bada*s! Once again we get some great character interaction, hilarious jokes, and kicka*s fight scenes.

We open up with the reveal of Earth X Tommy as Prometheus, which leads to a very emotional chat between him and Oliver, which ends with Tommy killing himself. Was great to see Tommy back on Arrow, and I love how the writers made him Prometheus as that was a big fan theory for season 5.

Jax and Stein, and Oliver and Felicity take up most of the in depth character interaction for this part of the crossover. Jax confesses to Stein that he doesn't want to lose his powers, and more importantly he doesn't want to lose him. He sees Stein as a father figure and that is something he doesn't want to lose, will be interesting to see how that pans out. Will they still break up firestorm? Meanwhile, Felicity doesn't want to marry Oliver because she fears it will break them up just like last time. Felicity saying no to Ollie's poor attempt at a proposal really takes an emotional toll on him, and I have no doubt that this will continue to be a theme over the crossover and maybe the season of Arrow.

The best part of the episode however, is once again the pure awesome fight scene. The evil version of Oliver and Kara, as well as the Reverse Flash, reveal their identities to our trinity, and we get a massive trinity vs. trinity battle. Surprisingly, we also learn that the SS Reverse Flash is actually our Eobard Thawne from earth 1! I initially thought he was that earths version of the RF. But turns out Thawne went back in time and switched earths to join their team. Seeing Barry trying to cope with having Thawne back was a big part of the episode.

The episode ends with our main heroes being captured and brought to earth X, and the reveal that evil Supergirl is dying, and they plan to cure her with our Kara's heart. Once again a massive night of DCTV, probably the best two hours in its history. Cannot wait for part 3 & 4!

10/10

DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) Season 3, Episode 7

Return of Grodd

[8/10 · 23 November 2017]

Legends has been on a great run recently, putting out high quality episodes compared to other seasons. The consistency of this season so far has been superior to season 1 & 2. And this week was no exception, as the Legends tackle Gorilla Grodd and the Vietnam war.

With Sara still KO'd from last week, the team decide to fix an inacranism, in which they decide on one from the Vietnam war. The team was split into thirds this week: Ray, Zari and Amaya focus on Grodd, Mick and Nate run into Mick's father, while Jax (and Stein) seeks out to discover his use to the team without powers.

I really enjoyed Mick's arc of this episode. We've never really had any character development for Mick, so seeing him meet a younger version of his father who makes him change how he viewed his father growing up and how he views himself for murdering his family. We see an emotional side of Mick that we haven't really seen before, so it was a nice change of pace.

Jax's arc involves him saving the presidents life by himself, and discovering that he has use to the team apart from just being firestorm. Still not a fan of them breaking firestorm up, and hoping that they change their minds.

Ray, Zari and Amaya had to deal with fixing the inacranism of Grodd being in Vietnam, which wasn't easy. Grodd has created his own army consisting of members from both the Viet Cong, and the US army. Amaya tries her best to save Grodd, but in the end his lust for power was too strong. At the end of the episode, we find out that Darhk was teleported Grodd to his time, and it seems like they're teaming up. With each new episode the more it seems like Darhk will be around for the long haul. I'm not a fan of this at all, Darhk has been a serviceable villain throughout the Arrowverse, but I'm over him now. Time to move on.

Another solid episode for Legends, hope it continues.

8.6/10

The Flash: Therefore I Am (2017) Season 4, Episode 7

The fastest mind alive

[10/10 · 23 November 2017]

I stated last week that The Flash needed to deliver this week, and deliver it did. What a fantastic episode, best of the season by far as we get an official introduction to the Thinker and learn about some of his origin story.

We start off with Barry and Joe talking to DeVoe and his wife, asking him questions that could potentially pinpoint DeVoe as their villain. But of course DeVoe answers the questions in a way that eliminates him as a suspect to everyone, everyone except Barry who has a bad feeling.

Throughout the episode we get flashbacks to who DeVoe was before the Thinker and how he became the Thinker. These parts of the episode were incredible as we learn that Clifford DeVoe is a professor of history who, back when he had no powers, struggled to educate his students properly. Because of this he has a plan to build a device (thinking cap) to help education. These flashbacks take place during the opening of season 1, as DeVoe has worked out that Dr Harrison Wells' partial accelerator will explode, and wants to use the power from the explosion to develop his thinking cap. Unfortunately, the explosion was too much which gave him metahuman powers at a cost of his health. There were some great moments relating back to season 1 in this episode that I really enjoyed. Similar to Arrow last season, this season of Flash is doing everything it can to get back to the roots of season 1, and I am loving it.

We also learn that DeVoe is dieing because of his powers, and the chair that he is in is keeping him alive or at least delaying his death. On top of this the flashbacks show that DeVoe wanted to use his powers to better humanity, what pushed him over the edge to supervillain?

Earlier on in the season I was worried that The Thinker didn't feel like much of a threat. But at the end of the episode, DeVoe reveals himself to Barry as his enemy, and with it came a sense that he is so far ahead of Team Flash that the game is already over. How will Team Flash respond?

There were a couple of things slightly negative with this episode, but I'm knit picking at best. First it seems like the dynamic of the relationship between DeVoe and who we now know is his wife, has changed. So far in the season up to now, it seemed like they were just colleagues, there was no romance at all. But that has all of a sudden changed, the wife feels like a different character now than the previous episodes. Second, although I loved the confrontations between Barry and DeVoe in this episode and how they each revealed themselves to the other so early in the season. I do feel like the revelation of DeVoe as The Thinker could have been dragged out a little more? And finally, Iris saying "we're The Flash" still annoys me.

Overall an extremely strong episode this week solely focused on out main villain (need more episodes like this). What will Thinker do now? Oh, and Wally's back!

9.6/10

Arrow: Promises Kept (2017) Season 6, Episode 6

Goodbye Slade...

[9/10 · 18 November 2017]

Another strong episode for Arrow this week as it focused around Slade and his son, with flashbacks to how Slade became deathstroke after surviving Lian Yu.

We get a strong and emotional opening scene between Slade and his son, which sets up the episode. Slade decides to "join" the jackels and help them on their mission. But of course, Oliver shows up to save Slade which leads to some more awesome bro scenes between the two. The flashbacks for this week show Slade back at ASIS after Lian Yu, and he is training with his son. To me, these are the strongest scenes of this episode as Slade notices the similarities between training with his son and training with Oliver on Lian Yu, which leads to the Mirakuru creating Deathstroke as he kills almost all of the ASIS soldiers and leaves his son. From remembering these flashbacks, Slade realised that his son is using the same anger and hatred that Slade had while on mirakuru, which leads to another strong scene between the two in the final battle as Slade tries to convince Joe that this is not the way.

Back in Star City Dig struggles with his injury and runs out of the drug that helps him. This compromises Dig in the field, not only physically, but mentally as the Team look to shut down the drug lord that Dig has been buying from. In the end they stop the drug operation (for the time being?) and Dig comes clean to the team who all forgive him. This happens as it is almost time for Oliver to go back to being under the hood. Wondering what triggers this though? Will it be the threat that comes in the big crossover event?

Finally, at the end of the episode we see what is potentially the end of Slade Wilson. When Joe escaped I thought that we'd be seeing more of Slade in the back half of the season. But that scene with Slade walking away from Oliver into the alley sure felt like a final goodbye, and what a ride it has been.

A great episode this week and Arrow has had a fantastic fortnight.

9/10 *winner of episode of the week

The Flash: When Harry Met Harry... (2017) Season 4, Episode 6

Council of Wells

[8/10 · 17 November 2017]

An improvement this week after last weeks not so good episode, but still no home run. However, the end of the episode set up for the first potential home run of the season next week. The episode revolved around two plot lines: 1 - Dibney's struggles to do the "hero" thing, and 2 - Wells trying to work out a way to find DeVoe.

The Dibney arc for this episode involved the villain of the week, who, how do I put this...controls statues??? So yeah unfortunately another weak villain for S4, which has probably been one of the main reasons the episodes thus far haven't been of super high quality. The way they are distributing the villains of the week is exactly the same as S1 and S2, but the powers of these villains are just so dull and boring that they've missed the mark. Hope they pick this up soon.

But yeah anyway, Dibney officially got out into the field as a hero in his hilarious suit. It was only the first time Barry and Dibney were out in the field together, but they already make a pretty good duo. Despite this, there were a couple moments where Dibney disregarded the safety of civilians in order to potentially catch the villain, which led to a little girl getting injured because Dibney made the wrong choice. When he realises this we see the good side of Dibney, his remorseful side, the girls condition really hits home for him and by the end of the episode he proves he's getting there at becoming a superhero and a really likable and relatable character.

The Wells arc this week is where most of the laughs were had. The council of Wells was a fantastic idea and I'll never get tired of seeing the genius that is Tom Cavanagh portray multiple versions of Harrison Wells (Harry is still my favourite). Harry uses different versions of himself throughout the multiverse to help solve how to find the mysterious DeVoe, and after some struggles they eventually get there which leads to Barry and the Team heading to DeVoe's location to confront him. But of course, DeVoe knew this was happening and instead of Team Flash confronting the super villain they were expecting, all they got was an old man DeVoe in a wheelchair.

And that's where the episode ends. So there's a big chance for Flash to have a massive episode next week, and have the first episode of the season that centres around DeVoe. They must deliver. A decent episode this week, but I want more very soon.

8.4/10

Arrow: Deathstroke Returns (2017) Season 6, Episode 5

Vigilante unmasked...

[9/10 · 10 November 2017]

A good bounce back episode for Arrow this week after last weeks disappointment. The episode centred around Slade trying to find his son, and Vigilante's return to Star City.

The Slade storyline was great, and the depth we got towards his relationship with his son (Joesph) really made me feel for Slade and his position. He uses Oliver's political power to help track down Joesph overseas, and Oliver tags along. I will always love Oliver and Slade scenes, as Amell and Bennett have great chemistry together that leads to entertaining viewing. Upon their travels, Slade learns that Joesph is being "held captive" by an organisation of the worst of the worst criminals called "Jackels". This leads to a bada*s scene of Slade slicing through a bunch of Jackels to find Joseph, pure awesomeness. The episode finished on the cliffhanger that Joesph is actually the leader of the Jackels, will be interesting to see how that turns out next week.

The other storyline of this episode involved the return of vigilante. Vigilante was a great addition to season 5 and I've been speculating about who he is for the better part of 8-10 months. So I was very pleased to see him back this episode. And yes, we finally got the reveal, and I did not see it coming. Turns out that vigilante is Dinah's old partner (both professionally and romantically) Vincent. This led to some great action scenes and emotional scenes between Dinah and Vincent, and it seems that some of the feelings are still there on both sides. Vigilante set out to kill a politician who is in favour of the anti-vigilante referendum. He is stopped by Black Canary, who lets him escape after catching him. No doubt we will see more of Vigilante in future episodes, and I can't wait.

Overall a great episode of Arrow this week, the return of Slade and Vigilante was awesome, and the ending of both plot lines left it open for much more of Slade and Vigilante in future episodes.

9.2/10

*Winner of episode of the week

DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Return of the Mack (2017) Season 3, Episode 5

Enter Mallus...

[9/10 · 9 November 2017]

What a past couple weeks for Legends! Could potentially be the best 2 week period in the shows history. This episode was set in London 1985, dealing with a potential vampire. While vampires are not something I'm fond of, I found myself enjoying the premise if a potential vampire terrorising the streets of London, and Mick's surprising obsession with wanting to kill one made this plot almost perfect.

We get the return of Rip this week, as he is away from the Time Bureau hunting down someone called Mallus, which I believe is the person Rip name dropped in episode one. So we finally get a sense of who the main villain of this season is, and the episode was centred around this new character who we are yet to properly see. But we learn that part of his plan is to bring back Damien Darhk. Not a fan of this. I have seen enough Damien Darhk over the past couple years and have had enough of him being a big bad. He served his purpose last year as a part of the Legion of Doom, but pls, that's enough. Hope he's not around for too long. But the threat of Mallus seems promising.

Zari once again had a big part of this episode as we see her bond with her totum growing. And she shared some great scenes with Amaya about using the totum and all the family stuff she is dealing with.

The final arc of this episode picked up from last week where Jax said he wanted to split up firestorm so that Stein could go back to 2017. As expected Stein wasn't happy with Jax going behind his back. But it looks like we could potentially have a new member of firestorm in the back half of the season, or for season 4.

Overall a strong episode this week, and I must say I enjoyed all of the "Return of the Mack" moments of the episode. Absolutely hilarious!

8.8/10

The Flash: Girls Night Out (2017) Season 4, Episode 5

An episode of The Flash without The Flash

[7/10 · 8 November 2017]

This weeks episode was unfortunately the worst of the season, with not much important happening. The episode focused around the Bucks and Hens night for Barry and Iris respectively.

The boys took a backseat in this episode with no Flash, no Vibe, no Elongated man, and no cop Joe! So honestly there isn't much to talk about here, besides Barry being drunk which was absolutely hilarious.

The girls take the spotlight this week with Cecile, Caitlin, and Felicity (how does Felicity get a gig in Iris' Hens Night but Oliver is not at Barry's Bucks????) joining Iris for celebrations. During their mellow night, the henchman we saw from episode one comes back for Caitlin who then turns into Killer Frost. I really enjoy Caitlin as Killer Frost, so was fun to see her back and the storyline involving Amunet Black was interesting. But it wasn't anything that would knock your socks off. It also seems that this episode has allowed for Caitlin to have some control over her powers. Will we see Frost line up with Flash and Vibe at some point this season? I hope so.

We get a Thinker tease at the end as he recaptures one of the bus metas that we met tonight, who I'm not gonna go into because it's next to pointless. My main issue with this week is that, after Barry realising that DeVoe is in town in last weeks episode, we got nothing towards Team Flash trying to track him down. This was the biggest type of filler episode a show could have. And just like Arrow is better when Oliver is under the hood, Flash is at its best when Barry is the Scarlet Speedster, and we got none of that tonight which was disappointing.

Killer Frost and drunk Barry make this episode watchable. But honestly not a Flash standard episode.

7/10

Arrow: Reversal (2017) Season 6, Episode 4

An okay episode ruined by a Helix storyline

[7/10 · 4 November 2017]

So it's week 2 of Oliver's hiatus as Green Arrow, and this week missed the mark compared to last week, but that's not necessarily due to Oliver not being GA.

We start off with a Black Siren scene, where she seduces a guy at a bar. Katie Cassidy does a great job as Black Siren and I liked seeing her back, as she was one of the main villains in this episode. She kills off what seems to be three "random" people that the team need to find connections with. Eventually they do and they work out her next target, which results in another great Canary vs. Siren battle. Will never get tired of those.

The subplot is where this episode fails dramatically. The Helix plot line of season 5 was the only negative part of a mostly great season. So I'm really disappointed that they brought the Helix arc back, I know that technically it's not exactly Helix, but it still feels the same boring plot line that looks like its gonna have a main part all season long. Continuing along with this, Michael Emerson finally made his debut, but unfortunately as Helix's Cayden James. I was really looking forward to Emerson's presence on the show, but I'm not interested in Cayden James at all. Disappointing. The only thing that I sort of like from this arc, is that Felicity has to face some form of consequences from joining Helix in season 5. But honestly I'd rather it not be a part of this season.

I enjoyed the fight scenes in this episode. And Slade calling Oliver has me intrigued for next weeks episode. Also, we officially have Olicity back. Not sure how I feel about it, as I actually liked them as a couple in the past. But it's no coincidence that their relationship coincided with the lowest quality time period of the Arrow series.

7.2/10

DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Phone Home (2017) Season 3, Episode 4

Woaahhh awesome costume!

[9/10 · 2 November 2017]

Well that was among the best episodes from Legends ever. Such an awesome episode to watch that had it all and executed it near perfectly. Also, this episode had some real emotion to it, which is not something that we get often from Legends as the writers like to keep the show fun and lighthearted, but the emotion worked well tonight.

So the main plot of the episode revolves around Ray, as back in 1988 when he was a kid he gets killed for harbouring a baby dominator. Loved seeing the dominators back, and I think they suit as Legends' villains perfectly. So the team work to obviously fix this so that Ray is still alive in 2017. This involves many things such as going to Ray's childhood home, and saving the dominators from the same dude (forget his name) who appeared in the 4-night crossover last season. And of course, this episode took place on Halloween.

The sub plot this week involved Stein going back to 2017 to see the birth of his granddaughter. This is usually something I wouldn't care for, but I found it to be a touching plot, especially when Mick and Jax decide that they'll take the wave rider back to 2017 just so Stein can be there to witness it. And the name of the baby is Ronnie, perfect. Despite there being a lot of emotion this week, we also had some laughs with the ET Easter egg, and Nate hooking up with the Mumma dominator haha!

On top of all this, I really enjoyed Zari's presence on the team. It's technically only the first episode she's been on the team, but she fits perfectly and I really like her character. Also are they leaning towards a romance between Zari and Ray?

But to my only dislike this week...Jax wanting to break up firestorm?!!! I love seeing firestorm on the show and honestly we don't see enough of him (them?). I understand why Jax wants to do this, but there's no firestorm without Stein.

Overall a great episode that ranks up there with Legends' best. Also how about that Delorean!

9/10 *Tied for episode of the week with Flash