We recap this week’s Arrowverse episodes: Legends of Tomorrow 3×14 “Amazing Grace”; The Flash 4×16 “Run, Iris, Run”; and Black Lightning 1×08 The Book of Revelations.”
This week in the Arrowverse, the Legends discover the sixth Totem, the Death Totem, being wielded by Elvis. Meanwhile, Iris temporarily gains Barry’s speed powers, and Jefferson takes Anissa under his wing.
‘Legends of Tomorrow’ 3×14 ‘Amazing Grace’
We’ve been waiting to learn about the mysterious sixth Totem that would be key to defeating Mallus, and this episode introduces it: the One Ring the Death Totem. According to Constantine, the Death Totem is the most volatile of the six totems, and it has the power to raise and control the dead.
And because this is Legends of Tomorrow, the Death Totem bearer is Elvis Presley. The Legends head to 1954 Memphis to stop the Death Totem on Elvis’s guitar from driving the city mad and thus ending rock and roll before the genre ever gets going — a tragedy that would change Mick’s rat’s name from Axl to Josh Groban and Zari’s copy of Guitar Hero into Trombone Hero. (Did I mention that I love this show?)
Nate is particularly invested in this mission, and he takes Amaya along so she can get to know him better through his love of rock. They need to make sure Elvis records his first single so his career is launched before taking the Death Totem.
Getting the Death Totem is further complicated by the fact that it has raised Elvis’ dead twin, Jesse, so Elvis must let his brother go — along with returning the other summoned dead to their resting places — before he can hand the Totem over to the Legends. Oh, and Elvis’s conservative preacher uncle thinks rock is the devil’s music, and he’s not exactly proved wrong when ghosts rise in response to Elvis’s music.
Yep, sounds like a typical day at the office for the Legends.
Meanwhile, Zari helps Wally move into the Waverider, though she’s annoyed at how easy Wally’s speed makes things — and ruins her top Pac-Man scores. She tells him that speed can’t solve everything; when fixing time, sometimes you need to be a scalpel rather than a sledgehammer. Wally takes this lesson to heart, and the two end up a bit closer.
Wally’s cheerful puppy nature makes him a good fit for the team. It’s clear he’s happy to be on the ship and wants to be helpful to the team. That’s a big difference from him being shoved aside on Team Flash.
Also, RIP Axl.
‘The Flash’ 4×16 ‘Run, Iris, Run’
After an utterly intolerable Ralph makes Iris feel bad for not going into the field like the rest of the team — all of whom, you know, have superpowers — Iris joins her father for an interview, only to accidentally have Barry’s speed transferred to her by one of the bus metas. As Barry wallows in feelings of uselessness after losing his job and his speed, Iris gets the thrill of a lifetime as she gets to be The Flash temporarily.
What I appreciate about this episode is that it addresses the fact that Iris is no longer working as a journalist — something that gave her purpose in the first two seasons of the show — and helps knock her out of her funk that has kept her behind the monitors at S.T.A.R. Labs rather than doing what she’s most passionate about.
In a much-needed heart-to-heart with Barry, she admits that with all those months with her impending death at Savitar’s hands hanging over her and then losing Barry to the Speed Force, she lost a lot of her passion. But getting to save the city before returning Barry’s powers was the jolt that she needed to get back into doing what she is best at.
Iris is a character I’ve never felt The Flash has done many favors. Candice Patton is wonderful, but they haven’t given her a lot to work with. She still feels like one of the least well-developed members of Team Flash, mostly because the writers have done so much telling us why Barry loves her or why the team follows her rather than showing us.
Giving her the chance to shine in this episode with powers, to do what her friends can do with their own abilities, before willingly giving those powers back to Barry because they aren’t meant for her does a lot for her development. The Flash has, for the most part, struggled with its female characters, but this was a strong outing for Iris, and I hope that momentum with her writing her Flash blog again continues.
‘Black Lightning’ 1×08 ‘The Book of Revelations’
It’s Take Your Daughter to Work Day at the vigilante office, as Jefferson starts training Anissa. And when Jefferson needs to clear Black Lightning’s name of Lady Eve’s murder, Anissa proves to be an invaluable resource. As much as I’m loving watching Anissa come into her own as Thunder, the best part of this episode for me was Jefferson’s sheer giddiness at how great Anissa is to have in the field after she saves his life.
It’s great to watch Jefferson realize that as much as he has to teach Anissa about being a hero, she has things to teach him as well. After so long of being alone on the streets, Jefferson now has backup — and capable backup at that.
Meanwhile, Lynn connects the sample Anissa found in her grandfather’s safe to Green Light. But when she goes to Gambi with questions, he realizes it’s time to come clean about his past with Jefferson. Gambi’s real name is Peter Esposito, and he is an agent of a government organization known as the ASA. He was sent to Freeland 30 years ago when the ASA was employing drugs through a vaccine with the intent of soothing racial tensions.
But when he learned the vaccines were giving children powers, he leaked the information to Alvin Pierce. However, this got Alvin killed, so Gambi took Jefferson in intending to atone. Jefferson, unsurprisingly, does not take this well. He tells Gambi to leave his family alone. Gambi, however, wants Jefferson to stop being Black Lightning because the ASA has put a price on his head.
I’m glad Gambi’s secrets aren’t lingering any longer than this. I do wonder whether he’s going to make it out of the season alive, though. He seems like he’s being set up to sacrifice himself to save Jefferson — and thus atone fully for his sins — but if he does that, who is going to monitor the Pierce clan while they’re suited up?
Speaking of the Pierces, Jennifer has her first manifestation of her powers when her friend almost falls off a ladder at school. In her fear, her eyes light up and she fries her phone. Rather than keep it a secret, though, she tells Anissa. Hopefully Anissa will tell Jefferson immediately; no more secrets please!
Oh, and we still have no idea what’s going on with Lala, other than he’s alive and he’s talking to a hallucination of LaWanda and even making out with her before she disappears. It’s weird, and I can’t wait to find out what’s happening.