We’re recapping this week’s Arrowverse episodes: Supergirl 3×17 “Trinity,” The Flash 4×21 “Harry and the Harrisons” and Arrow 6×22 “The Ties That Bind.”
This week in the Arrowverse, the Worldkillers unite, Team Flash teams up with a villain, and Diaz makes his move against Team Arrow.
‘Supergirl’ 3×17 ‘Trinity’
In the wake of discovering that Sam is Reign — and that Lena knew and has been experimenting on her for weeks — Supergirl is angry at her friend for keeping secrets. Of course, Lena doesn’t understand why this is personal for her because she doesn’t know Supergirl is her BFF Kara.
And that, of course, makes Kara a hypocrite for being angry at Lena for keeping secrets. Lena was trying to protect Sam from the DEO, but had she known Kara is Supergirl, I doubt she would have had an issue looping her in. Lena even calls out Supergirl’s hypocrisy by asking her real name. Supergirl won’t reveal herself, and Lena’s point stands.
Kara’s hypocrisy runs in stark contrast to James. Kara asks him, as Guardian, to investigate whether Lena has any more Kryptonite because she can’t trust Lena’s word. James agrees, but once he gets into Lena’s lab, he doesn’t go through with the search.
Instead, he decides to trust his girlfriend, who has given him no reason to doubt her — despite his baggage with the Luthors. More than that, he comes clean, revealing his identity as Guardian and confessing that he broke into her lab. His honesty is rewarded, as Lena confesses that she has discovered how to create Kryptonite. Whaaa?
This is a weekly reminder that James Olsen is a quality human being, and Kara was dumb for dumping him.
Meanwhile, the Worldkillers pull a Day of Black Sun, which weakens Kara like she’s a Firebender, and Pestilence succeeds in killing her human host, Grace, so only the Worldkiller is left. Reign and Purity are having a harder time with Sam and Julia respectively, and this gives Kara, Alex and Lena time to find Sam in the alternate dimension she goes to when Reign takes over. They tell Sam to send them the location of the Worldkiller base, leading to a huge fight between the DEO and Worldkillers.
Julia is able to fight back against Purity and turns on the other Worldkillers. She succeeds in taking out Pestilence, though she loses her life in the process. This is heartbreaking for Kara, who wanted nothing more than to save Julia — though in a way she did. She helped Julia die as herself with agency. The powers of the dead Worldkillers flow into Reign and the base is destroyed.
‘The Flash’ 4×21 ‘Harry and the Harrisons’
Team Flash knows they can’t stop DeVoe’s satellites with technology because of his Kilg%re powers, so they need some kind of organic weapon. This makes Caitlin think of Amunet, who controls metal. She has an ulterior motive, though; she wants Amunet to use splicer technology she used previously to help Caitlin control Killer Frost to bring her frosty alter ego back now.
On the one hand, it’s always fun to watch a team of heroes reluctantly team up with a villain — especially the inevitable double cross. But with only a couple of episodes until the finale, this episode feels out of place. It takes a full episode for Amunet to hand over a ball of combustible metal shards that the team can use to knock out DeVoe’s satellites.
Meanwhile, both Caitlin and Harry have to learn about feeling their feelings to solve their problems. Amunet reveals the splicer never worked; it had was only a placebo effect that helped Caitlin control Killer Frost. So, her solution to bringing Killer Frost back is within. I’ve enjoyed seeing Caitlin be more active as she’s looked to bring back Killer Frost, getting involved in the action and wielding the cold gun. Killer Frost might be gone, but she still has veins of ice.
Harry, on the other hand, gets kicked out of the Council of Wells because he’s losing his intelligence. Cue the Council of Harrisons, another set of Wells doppelgangers who are in touch with their feelings. Harry finds the whole exercise frustrating, but eventually he realizes the key to beating DeVoe is emotion — just as Marlize realized a couple of episodes ago. Harry realizes DeVoe hasn’t activated his satellites because Marlize left him after the last debacle, and he misses her.
Oh, and Iris publishes an article on her blog about DeVoe and hopes the people of Central City will help Team Flash flush DeVoe out. In a climate of Russian trolls, maybe not the best plot?
‘Arrow’ 6×22 ‘The Ties That Bind’
In the penultimate episode of the season, Diaz moves against Team Arrow and their loved ones. Diaz, whose detachment and patience have been his greatest weapons up until now, is becoming unhinged. It seems that setting his childhood bully on fire opened the flood gates within him, and he’s not holding back any longer.
By the end of this episode, Diaz has attempted to murder all of both Old and New Team Arrow, nearly killed Curtis (stabbed) and Curtis’ boyfriend (shot) and has killed three of the four members of the Quadrant. He’s also destroyed Team Arrow’s bunker. The last living member of the Quadrant pledges loyalty to Diaz just to keep his life.
With Anatoly’s inside help, Team Arrow attempts to copy a flashdrive containing a list of all the people on Diaz’s payroll, but Diaz’s men attack New Team Arrow’s bunker and force Oliver to blow it up before the decryption can finish.
The emotional core of the episode comes from Oliver struggling with Felicity’s willingness to put herself in danger to stop Diaz. Felicity is now not just his wife but also William’s mother. Felicity, on the other hand, sees Lyla and Diggle (both parents as well) working together as partners — both personally and professionally — and wants that.
Felicity is right to call out Oliver’s double standard. He has no problem risking Diggle or Lyla — or himself. And while it’s true that Diggle and Lyla are soldiers and A.R.G.U.S. agents, Felicity has field experience of her own. She may not be a fighter, but she should not be kept away from danger because Oliver says so.
On the other hand, Felicity did take a major risk by running into a fire fight. Diaz nearly shot her in the back; she was lucky Oliver saw him and was able to stop him. Though Lyla quips to Felicity that part of her and Diggle’s marital success comes from having gotten divorced once, I don’t want to see Oliver and Felicity go down that road; I just want to see them acknowledge each other’s feelings and compromise.
Finally, Oliver goes back to Agent Watson for help against Diaz. He admits to being the Green Arrow in exchange for the FBI’s help. Sigh.
Look, Ollie, I know Barry is busy with his own supervillain and all, but maybe call him or your other superpowered pals for some help before setting yourself up for a life in prison? Barry or Wally, for instance, could take out Diaz and his men before they knew what hit them. What’s the point of having a network of superheroes if you can’t call each other for help every now and then?
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